4-fOCICEO  I 


ANlHKUfOLOGY  LIBRARY 

UC-NRLF 


B   3    15fl    722 


\  V 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


<// 


Pre-Historic  Man. 


DARWINISM    AND    DEITY. 


The   Mound   Builders 


CIN(      NNATI: 

ROBERT    CLARKE    &    CO 
i873- 


MBBB 


Pre-Historic  Man. 


DARWINISM    AND    DEITY. 


The   Mound   Builders. 


By   M.    F.    FORCE. 


CINCINNATI: 

ROBERT    CLARKE    &    CO 
1873. 


These    Papers    were    read    before    the 

Jj IjMCIjMJMATI     JilTERARY     £uJB  : 

Primitive  Man — March  21,  1S6S  ; 
Darwinism  and  Deity — January  13,  1872  ; 
The  Mound  Builders — April  15,  1873. 


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Til  E 


PRIMITIVE    INHABITANTS 


OF 


Western  Europe. 


In  1829,  an  excavation  made  in  the  shore  of  the 
Lake  of  Zurich,  near  Meilen,  brought  Up  fragments  of 
wooden  piles  and  other  remains,  which  attracted  no  at- 
tention at  the  time,  and  were  thrown,  with  the  mud  in 
which  they  were  imbedded,  into  the  deep  part  of  the 
lake. 

In  the  winter  of  1853-4,  the  water  in  the  Swiss 
lakes  fell  one  foot  lower  than  the  mark  of  1674,  which 
had  been  considered  the  lowest  known  in  history. 
Several  gentlemen  of  Meilen  took  advantage  of  this  low 
water  to  extend  their  land  into  the  lake,  inclosing  por- 
tions laid  bare,  and  filling  up  the  inclosed  spaces  with 
neighboring  mud.  ■  The  workmen,  as  soon  as  they 
began  to  excavate,  found  the  mud,  forming  the  bottom 
of  this  portion  of  the  lake,  filled  with  wooden  piles, 
horns  and  bones  of  animals,  implements  of  stone,  and 
fragments  of  pottery.  The  interest  of  antiquarians  was 
at  once  excited.  Investigations  were  set  on  foot.  It 
was  soon  found  that  the  shores  of  the  Swiss   lakes  were 


The  Primitive  Inhabitants 


dotted  with  abounding  remains  of  an  ancient  people, 
whose  habitations  were  built  in  the  water,  and  who 
passed  away  without  leaving  a  tradition.  Further 
research  found  similar  remains  in  Germany  and  the 
lakes  of  Northern  Italy.  The  traces  of  one  such  set- 
tlement were  found  adjoining  Pliny's  villa.  Yet  Pliny 
seems  to  have  had  no  suspicion  of  their  existence — to 
have  heard  no  tradition  of  its  builders. 

The  few  years  that  have  passed  since  the  dis- 
covery of  the  winter  of  1853-4,  have  been  so  busily 
used  in  the  study  of  these  remains,  that  a  new  chapter 
of  history  has  been  sketched,  the  lake  dwellers  have  be- 
come a  familiar  name,  and  their  epoch  has  become  an 
established  starting  point  for  reaching  still  further  back 
into  the  past. 

Their  villages  were  built  in  shoal  water,  in  a  few 
cases  within  twenty  feet — sometimes  several  hundred 
yards — from  the  shore.  Piles,  sometimes  whole  trunks, 
sometimes  split,  were  driven  within  a  few  feet  of  each 
other,  and  cut  off  at  top  so  as  to  make  a  level  surface. 
In  many  cases  they  were  filled  in  between,  with  stones, 
for  firmness.  A  boat  has  been  found  lying  on  the  bot- 
tom, still  holding  its  load  of  stones,  just  where  it  cap- 
sized some  thousands  of  years  ago.  In  other  cases,  the 
piles  were  strengthened  with  cross-pieces.  On  the  outer 
edge,  toward  the  lake,  a  wattling  of  wicker-work  pre- 
vented waves  from  washing  in. 

Over  the  surface  was  laid  a  floor  of  cross-timbers  and 
saplings;  and  this  being  covered  with  clay  and  pebbles, 
made  the  groundwork  of  the  settlement.  Huts  were 
built  in  rows.  All  the  huts  appear  to  have  been  square, 
and  their  main  timbers  to  be  long  piles  projecting  above 


Of  Western  Europe. 


the   general    surface.     A   weather-boarding   of  a    single 

O  CD  D 

plank  surrounded  each  hut  at  the  bottom,  keeping  out 
wet.  So  far  no  indications  have  been  found  of  more 
than  a  single  row  of  boards  being  so  used.  Apparently, 
each  hut  contained  but  one  room  ;  each  contained  one 
fire-place  of  stone  slabs.  Some  had  trunks  of  trees 
with  branches  lopped  short,  as  if  used  for  hanging  up 
articles  to  keep  them  from  the  floor.  Nearly  all  had 
clay  weights  used  in  weaving.  The  sides  of  the  huts 
were  made  by  weaving  small  wythes  among  the  upright 
supports  and  covering  the  walls  so  made  with  a  thick 
coating  of  clay.  Where  the  villages  were  burnt,  large 
fragments  are  found  of  the  clay  with  the  impression  of 
the  burnt  wicker-work  on  the  inner  side. 

The  inhabitants  kept  their  domestic  animals  out  in 
these  villages.  The  researches  have  already  brought  up 
whole  museums  full  of  implements  of  stone,  bone, 
bronze,  and  iron ;  arrow-heads,  lance-heads,  swords, 
hatchets,  hammers,  chisels,  knives,  needles,  pins,  hair- 
pins, brooches,  necklaces,  and  other  ornaments  ;  pottery, 
linen  stuffs,  and  wearing  apparel,  and  even  charred  frag- 
ments of  bread,  and  seeds  of  berries  and  fruits. 

We  do  not  yet  know  certainly  the  race,  language,  gov- 
ernment, or  religion  of  these  people.  The  pile  villages 
only  indicate  a  certain  stage — an  early  one — of  develop- 
ment. Hippocrates  mentions  villages  of  this  sort  in 
the  river  Phasis,  in  Colchis.  Herodotus  relates  that  the 
inhabitants  of  a  similar  village  in  Lake  Prasias,  in 
Thrace,  escaped  unharmed  during  the  invasion  of 
Xerxes.  Abulfeda  described  one  such  in  the  Apa- 
mean  lake,  in  Syria,  in  the  thirteenth  century.  The 
crannogs  of  Ireland — analogous  structures,  though  used 


The   Primitive  Inhabitants 


only  as  strongholds  to  withdraw  to  in  times  of  danger — 
continued  in  use  to  a  later  day.  A  village  precisely 
similar,  inhabited  by  the  Indians  on  the  northern  coast 
of  South  America,  was  discovered  by  Ojeda,  before 
1500,  and  named  by  him  Venezuela.  It  is  mentioned 
in  Navarrete's  account  of  the  voyage,  and  described 
more  fully  in  the  letters  ascribed  to  Vespucius.  The 
natives  of  New  Guinea,  when  discovered,  dwelt  in  vil- 
lages precisely  like  those  of  the  Swiss  lakes.  These 
habitations,  therefore,  have  no  ethnological  value,  but 
are  resorted  to  by  nations  in  early  and  rude  states,  in 
lake  countries,  just  as  steep  hills  and  battlemented 
castles  are  resorted  to  in  other  ages  and  situations. 

But  these  people,  though  rude,  were  not  entirely  bar- 
barous. If  they  navigated  the  lakes  in  canoes,  each 
scooped  from  a  single  trunk,  they  fished  with  hooks 
that  might  be  used  now,  and  with  nets.  Their  atten- 
tion to  agriculture  is  indicated  by  the  manure  which 
seemed  to  have  been  heaped  up  and  saved,  and  by  their 
sickles.  Though  they  depended,  particularly  in  the 
most  ancient  settlements,  largely  upon  hunting  as  well 
as  fishing,  yet  they  kept  domestic  animals — cattle, 
sheep,  goats,  and  pigs.  Their  mechanical  skill  ranged 
from  rudely  chipping  stone  implements  to  casting  and 
working  bronze  and  iron  with  some  skill.  Their  pot- 
tery, though  made  by  the  hand,  not  with  the  lathe,  and 
baked  in  open  fires,  was  sometimes  wrought  in  shapes 
not  without  elegance,  and  ornamented  with  taste.  Frag- 
ments of  linen  cloth  have  been  found,  some  of 
which  must  have  been  made  upon  a  simple  species  of 
loom,  and  one,  embroidered  with  regular  designs  in 
needle-work. 


Of  Western  Europe. 


They  had  some  communication  with  other  nations. 
They  had  quartz  from  Gaul  ;  some  bits  of  amber,  which 
must  have  come  from  the  Baltic;  and  nephrite,  from 
Asia.  A  small  bar  of  pure  tin  has  been  found,  and 
some  vases  have  thin  strips  of  tin  pressed  into  the  sur- 
face for  ornament.  This,  with  the  glass  beads  found  at 
some  of  the  older  settlements,  must  have  been  brought 
to  their  maritime  neighbors  by  the  Phoenicians.  It  was 
taken  for  granted,  at  first,  that  their  bronze  came  from 
the  same  source;  but  crucibles  have  been  found  with 
dross  yet  adhering  to  the  edge,  and  a  well-constructed 
bronze  mold  has  been  discovered.  Besides,  it  has  been 
noticed  that  the  bronze  implements  which  appear  most 
ancient,  are  modeled  after  the  stone  implements  that  were 
in  use  before  the  introduction  of  metal ;  while  those 
made  when  metal  became  more  common,  appear  to  have 
been  gradually  fashioned  in  shapes  better  suited  to 
metal.  Finally,  chemical  analysis,  by  Professor  Von 
Fellenberg,  of  Berne,  has  shown  that  much  of  the  bronze 
used  contains  nickel,  which  is  not  the  case  with  bronze 
found  elsewhere.  Now,  in  Switzerland,  in  the  vale  of 
Anniviers,  mines  of  copper  and  nickel  are  found  close 
together.  Hence  these  early  people  seem  to  have  been, 
to  some  extent,  miners. 

The  remains  of  food  indicate  that  the  villages  were 
inhabited  throughout  the  year.  Seeds  of  fruits  and 
berries  mark  all  the  months  of  summer;  beech-nuts 
and  hazel-nuts  point  to  autumn  ;  and  the  bones  of  the 
swan,  which  visits  the  Swiss  lakes  only  in  December  and 
January,  mark  the  winter.  The  stores  of  grain  found 
in  one  village  destroyed  by  fire,  show  they  laid  up  food  ; 
and  the  quantity  of  loose  flax  and   thread   indicate  that 


io  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

they  had  occupation  for  the  indoor  season.  They  found 
leisure  to  fabricate  ornaments,  as  well  as  implements  for 
use.  Bracelets,  necklaces,  brooches,  are  not  rare,  and 
the  abundance  of  hair-pins,  ornamented  as  well  as  plain, 
suggests  that  the  ladies  of  the  lakes  had  ample  tresses, 
and  took  pride  in  them.  The  identity  of  the  grain 
cultivated,  and  the  weed  of  southern  origin  mingled 
with  it,  indicate  intercourse  with  southern  Europe. 

The  duration  of  these  settlements  must  have  covered 
a  considerable  lapse  of  time.  The  amount  of  remains 
and  refuse  could  only  accumulate  in  centuries.  The 
settlement  of  Robenhausen  presents  proof  of  a  different 
sort.  Here  are  found  the  ruins  of  three  settlements, 
one  above  the  other;  the  first  two  apparently  destroyed 
by  fire,  the  last  abandoned.  The  growth  of  several  feet 
of  peat,  upon  each  bed  of  debris,  between  it  and  the 
next  succeeding,  shows  that  a  long  interval  elapsed  be- 
tween the  destruction  of  the  successive  villages.  More- 
over, the  villages  belong  to  three  different  stages  of 
civilization — the  ages  of  stone,  of  bronze,  and  of  iron. 

In  all  parts  of  the  world  stone  implements  appear  to 
have  been  used  first.  Then  the  soft  metals,  copper  and 
tin,  were  brought  into  use.  And,  finally,  when  the 
less  obvious  iron  was  detected  in  its  ore,  and  contriv- 
ance for  blast  heat  to  smelt  it  was  invented,  civiliza- 
tion took  another  advance.  These  three  stages  are  rep- 
resented in  the  lake  dwellings.  It  is  possible,  indeed, 
that  three  different  types  of  civilization  might  exist  side 
by  side,  even  in  the  narrow  compass  of  Switzerland. 
But  they  appear,  in  fact,  to  have  been  successive.  In 
the  villages  where  metal  is  not  found,  the  bones  of  wild 
animals    predominate ;    w7hile    those    belonging   to   the 


Of  Western  Europe.  1 1 

bronze  epoch  abound  chiefly  with  bones  of  domestic 
animals.  In  the  first,  fox  bones  are  common.  In  the 
others,  they  are  few;  and  skeletons  of  a  large  variety  of 
dog  appear.  Now  these  different  successive  stages  of 
society, — though  not  the  pure  result  of  spontaneous  ef- 
fort and  development  of  these  people,  but  stimulated 
and  hastened  by  intercourse  with  more  advanced  nations, 
— must  still  represent  a  period  of  long  duration. 

How  long  this  duration  was,  can  not,  of  course,  be 
determined ;  but  suggestions,  which  are  something 
more  than  guesses,  have  been  made.  The  absence  of 
cat,  mouse,  or  rat,  and  still  more,  the  entire  absence  of 
the  domestic  fowl,  which  was  introduced  into  Greece  in 
the  time  of  Pericles,  and  is  first  known  in  Italy  by 
coins  struck  about  a  hundred  years  before  Christ,  and 
the  presence  of  the  sweet  cherry,  which  was  introduced 
into  Italy  from  the  East  by  Lucullus,  fix  one  limit. 
These  settlements  did  not  last  after  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era.  On  the  other  hand,  the  re- 
mains of  birds  found  are  precisely  such  as  are  found  in 
Switzerland  now.  The  wild  plants  and  trees  of  their 
day  are  identical,  in  the  minutest  particular,  with  the 
flora  of  the  same  localities  at  the  present  day.  The 
bones  of  only  two  animals  are  found  that  do  not  live  in 
Switzerland  now:  the  urus,  or  great  ox;  and  the  au- 
rochs, or  bison.  Caesar  saw  both  of  these  in  Germany, 
where,  indeed,  they  did  not  wholly  perish  till  the  mid- 
dle ages ;  and  although  the  urus  is  now  extinct,  the 
bison  is  still  preserved  in  a  forest  in  Lithuania,  for  the 
special  hunting  sports  of  the  Czars.  Hence,  whatever 
date  may  be  assigned  to  the  origin  of  these  settlements, 
it  must  be  within  the  present  geological  epoch. 


12  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

Professor  Morlot,  of  Switzerland,  has  tried  to  fix 
the  date  from  geological  data.  He  noticed  in  a  rail- 
road cut  through  a  bank  thrown  up,  sand  and  gravel 
deposit  at  the  mouth  of  a  little  stream  emptying  into 
one  of  the  lakes,  in  which,  at  different  depths,  were  a 
stratum  of  rubbish,  containing  Roman  remains,  another 
containing  bronze  implements,  and  a  third,  containing 
stone  implements.  In  another  lake,-  where,  at  the 
mouth  of  a  similar  stream,  made  land  has  extended  into 
the  lake,  the  remains  of  a  convent,  and  of  one  of  the  lake 
settlements,  denote  the  position  of  the  shore  at  the  re- 
spective dates  of  these  two  settlements.  M.  Morlot 
argues  from  the  date  of  the  Roman  remains  in  the  one 
case,  and  of  the  convent  in  the  other,  that  the  Swiss 
lake  village  must  have  existed  from  six  thousand  to 
seven  thousand  years  ago.  By  a  similar  calculation 
he  fixes  the  date  of  a  settlement  (Yverdun)  of  the 
transition  period  at  three  thousand  three  hundred  years 
ago.  These  calculations  are  generally  not  regarded  as 
based  upon  sufficient  data;  but  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  who 
speaks  more  favorably  of  them  than  any  one  else,  says 
"they  deserve  notice,  and  appear  to  me  to  be  full  of 
promise." 

Calculations  from  other  data  arrive  at  a  different 
result.  The  settlement  of  Marin,  the  distinctive  set- 
tlement of  the  iron  period,  has  an  entirely  distinctive 
character,  altogether  the  most  modern  type.  When  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  was  preparing  his  Life  of  Caesar,  he 
instituted  careful  explorations  of  the  site  of  Alesia, 
which  was  taken  by  Caesar  after  a  memorable  siege. 
The  iron  swords  found  there  are  identical  with  the 
swords  found  at  Marin.      Moreover,  at  this  settlement 


Of  Western  Europe.  1 3 

were  found  coins  of  Gaul,  of  Marseilles,  and  some  Ro- 
man coins,  one  as  late  as  Claudius.  This,  the  latest 
village,  must  therefore  have  lasted  till  about  the  Chris- 
tian era.  No  rye  has  been  found.  Their  grains  were  the 
small-grained,  primitive  wheat,  and  the  six-rowed  bar- 
ley. The  six-row  barley  is  found  upon  Italian  coin 
struck  about  five  or  six  hundred  years  before  Christ. 
Bronze,  wheat,  and  barley  are  the  distinctive  marks  of 
Greece  in  the  times  of  Hesiod  and  Homer.  As  civiliza- 
tion traveled  westward,  the  period  of  bronze,  wheat,  and 
barley  must  have  been  later  in  Switzerland  than  in 
Greece.  At  the  settlement  of  Wauvvl,  which  belongs 
to  the  stone  period,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  old- 
est, were  found  glass  beads,  such  as  were  made  in  Phoe- 
nicia and  Egypt,  and  must  have  come  by  means  of 
Phoenician  commerce.  This  settlement  must  therefore 
have  been  in  existence  as  late  as  fifteen  hundred  years 
before  Christ.  By  this  calculation,  these  villages  would 
not  extend  back  more  than  two  thousand  years  before 
our  era,  and  this  is  the  limit  fixed  by  Keller,  the  most 
careful  student  of  the  whole  subject. 

The  nationality  of  the  lake  dwellers  has  been  much 
discussed.  The  French  appear  to  have  settled  in  the 
statement  or  assumption  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
stone  age  were  a  primitive  race;  that  the  Celts,  an  Arian 
race,  acquainted  with  bronze,  surging  from  the  East, 
and  filling  Western  Europe,  exterminated  the  original 
settlers,  took  possession  of  their  habitations,  and  drop- 
ped into  their  mode  of  life.  But,  if  this  were  true,  the 
lakes  should  have  some  traces  of  the  struggle,  and  yield 
human  skeletons  in  attestation  of  it.  Yet,  in  all  the 
lakes,    only    five   human    skulls    and    few   other  human 


14  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

bones  have  been  found.  There  are  no  traces  of  sudden 
change.  From  first  to  last  the  villages  appear  to  have 
been  constructed  upon  the  same  plan,  and  the  mode  of 
life  in  them  appears  to  have  been  substantially  the  same. 
The  earliest  bronze  implements  appear  to  have  been 
cast  after  the  model  of  those  of  stone  in  use,  and  new 
forms  adopted  with  increased  knowledge  of  the  capabil- 
ities of  metal.  So,  too,  the  earliest  iron  weapons  ap- 
pear to  have  been  wrought  into  the  shape  of  bronze 
castings,  and  only  later  advantage  was  taken  of  the 
malleable  property  of  iron.  The  progress  of  these 
people  was  gradual,  and  has  every  indication  of  having 
been  continuous.  Hence,  as  we  know  the  inhabitants 
of  these  villages  were,  in  their  latter  days,  what  is  called 
Celtic,  we  may  reasonably  infer  that  the  lake  settlements 
were  from  the  first  of  Celtic  origin. 

There  is,  however,  one  consideration  which  I  have 
not  seen  presented,  which  might  be  urged  in  favor  of 
the  theory  that  the  introduction  of  bronze  came  with  a 
new  immigrant  race.  In  many  of  the  settlements  have 
been  found  horned  or  crescent-shaped  objects,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  is  not  known.  Mr.  Keller  plausibly  sug- 
gests that  they  were  connected  with  the  Druidical  wor- 
ship of  the  moon.  Now,  these  relics  are  not  found  in 
the  earlier  settlements  of  the  stone  age;  they  are  only 
found  where  bronze  instruments  are  also  found.  If 
the  supposition  of  Mr.  Keller  is  correct,  then  these  ob- 
jects tend  to  indicate  the  presence  of  a  new  religious 
worship  cotemporaneous  with  the  introduction  of  the 
use  of  metal.  And  the  cotemporaneous  introduction 
of  both  would  favor  the  opinion  that  they  were  also  co- 
temporaneous with  the  incoming  of  a  new  race. 


Of  Western  Europe.  1 5 

Groping  in  the  dark  for  the  history  of  these  early 
people,  we  can  deal  only  in  hypotheses  and  probabilities. 
So,  as  to  the  period  of  the  abandonment  of  the  pile 
dwellings,  it  can  only  be  said  that  they  were  probably 
abandoned  gradually.  The  increasing  sense  of  confine- 
ment and  discomfort  accompanying  the  development  of 
new  wants,  which  necessarily  came  with  new  acquisitions 
and  improvements;  or,  perhaps,  the  growth  of  confi- 
dence and  security  which  came  with  the  use  of  metal 
weapons,  or  both  together,  seem  to  have  led  to  a  grad- 
ual abandonment  of  these  habitations.  Villages  of  the 
stone  age  are  found  in  all  the  lakes;  villages  of  the 
bronze  age  are  found  only  in  the  western  lakes.  And 
villages  where  iron  is  found  have  been  discovered  only 
in  two  lakes.  The  whole  system  seems  to  have  been 
finally  abandoned  about  the  beginning  of  the  present 
era.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  is  probably  mistaken  in  saying 
that  such  villages  existed  at  Chavanne  and  Noville  in 
the  sixth  century,  for  they  are  not  named  in  Sir  John 
Lubbock's  later  and  fuller  notice,  or  in  Keller's  exhaust- 
ive account.  But  some  faint  traces  have  lingered  to 
our  day.  The  fishermen  in  the  Limmat  built  their  huts 
upon  the  same  plan  down  to  the  last  century,  and  in  a 
secluded  valley  in  the  Vorder  Rhine,  where  an  antique 
dialect  is  yet  heard,  the  cattle  and  sheep  and  pigs  show 
clear  traces  of  the  varieties  whose  bones  are  found 
among  the  remains  of  the  lake  dwellings. 

The  lake  dwellings  thus  lose  much  of  their  mystery. 
Their  buildings  differed  from  their  cotemporaries  in 
Western  Europe  only  in  the  accident  of  situation. 
They  sought  for  security  in  their  lakes,  as  those  upon 
the  mainland  did  upon  steep  hills.    Throughout  France, 


i  6  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

the  British  Isles,  Germany,  and  Denmark,  the  same 
successive  eras  of  stone,  bronze,  and  iron  prevailed. 
The'  straight-bladed  iron  swords,  the  leaf-like  bronze 
swords,  the  metal  ornaments,  and  the  ruder  implements 
of  stone,  are  found  alike  in  all  these  countries.  The 
old  monuments  which  have  perplexed  antiquaries, 
though  still  without  date  in  years,  range  themselves  in 
a  certain  order  of  succession.  The  tumuli  take  place 
in  the  age  of  bronze,  and  the  barrows  in  the  age  of 
stone.  The  venerable  circle  of  stonehenge  takes  its 
place  in  history  in  the  age  of  bronze. 

On  the  Baltic  shores  of  Denmark  are  remains  which 
belong  to  a  ruder,  if  not  an  earlier,  epoch.  These  are 
simple  heaps  of  oyster-shells,  which  have  received  an 
unpronounceable  Danish  name,  meaning  "kitchen  re- 
fuse." The  tribes  now  living  in  the  Straits  of  Terra 
del  Fuego  and  the  northern  coast  of  Australia  live 
chiefly  on  shell  fish,  and  the  debris  of  their  repasts  ac- 
cumulate in  great  masses  of  shells.  So,  in  former  days, 
lived  and  fed  an  oyster-loving  tribe  on  the  shores  of 
Denmark.  Bones  of  animals  and  birds,  and  occasional 
stone  arrow-heads  and  hatchets  mingled  in  the  heap, 
have  been  studied  as  carefully  as  the  remains  found  in 
the  lakes.  The  stone  implements  are  very  rude  and 
simple.  The  bones  indicate  no  domestic  animal  but  a 
small  dog.  There  are  no  indications  of  wheat,  barley, 
'or  other  vegetable  food.  The  bones  of  deep-sea  fish 
indicate  that  the  people  used  boats.  The  different 
stages  of  growth  of  deer's  antlers  found,  indicate  that 
the  shores  were  not  a  mere  summer  resort,  but  were  the 
permanent  dwelling-place  of  an  extremely  rude  people. 

The  only  extinct  animal  whose  bones  are  found  there 


Of  Western  Europe.  1 7 

is  the  urus.  But  the  oyster  is  no  longer  found  in  the 
brackish  water  of  the  Baltic,  and  the  muscle  and  other 
shell-fish  now  reach  there  only  one-third  of  the  size  that 
is  shown  in  these  refuse  heaps,  and  which  they  still  at- 
tain in  the  ocean.  But  it  is  known  that,  at  no  remote 
period,  ocean  currents  swept  through  Denmark  in  straits 
now  closed,  and  Sweden  has  been  gradually  rising  at  the 
rate  of  two  feet  in  a  century  in  the  southern  part,  and 
five  feet  in  a  century  in  the  north.  The  shores  of  Den- 
mark, however,  it  is  said,  rise  only  at  the  rate  of  two 
or  three  inches  per  century.  If  these  shores  have  been 
rising  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  inches  per  century,  the 
shell  heaps  are  now  so  near  the  level  of  the  water  that 
they  can  not  be  credited  with  any  antiquity  exceeding 
four  thousand  years.  Hence,  though  they  certainly  be- 
long to  an  earlier  type  of  civilization,  there  seems  no 
reason  for  making  them  chronologically  belong  to  a 
more  remote  date  than  the  more  advanced  races  who 
built  the  barrows  and  tumuli.  This  view  is  corroborated 
by  the  fact  that  the  remains  of  no  extinct  animal  but  the 
urus  are  found  here. 

One  circumstance  has  been  seized  to  give  them  a 
more  venerable  antiquity.  Denmark  has  been  covered 
with  beech  forest  as  long  as  we  have  any  account  of  it. 
But  trunks  of  trees  found  in  peat  beds  show  that  it  was 
preceded  by  oak,  which  in  turn  was  preceded  by  for- 
ests of  pine.  In  a  peat  bed,  under  the  trunk  of  a  huge 
pine,  which  itself  lies  under  superimposed  oak  and 
beech,  a  flint  arrow-head  has  been  found.  And  in  the 
shell  heaps  are  found  the  bones  of  a  bird  {capercailzie) 
which  is  supposed  to  have  fed  on  pine  buds.  So  with 
guessers  at  the  unknown  duration  of  the  unknown  for- 


1 8  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

ests,  a  remote  conjectural  antiquity  is  commonly  ascribed 
to  these  simple  remains. 

But  it  is  not  in  the  lake  dwellings,  or  the  shell 
mounds,  or  the  peat  beds,  that  we  are  to  look  for  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Western  Europe.  The  archae- 
ologist indeed  goes  no  further.  But  the  geologist, 
peering  beyond,  descries  a  fossil  man.  Not  every  pet- 
rifaction, however,  is  a  fossil.  We  must  define  what  is 
properly  meant  by  this  term. 

The  forces  of  nature  are  still  at  work  ceaselessly 
changing  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  sea  eats  away 
its  shores,  the  waves  grind  up  the  fragments,  and  the 
currents  bear  away  the  debris,  deposit  it,  and  form  sub- 
marine strata.  Rivers  in  like  manner  washing  away 
the  soil  of  their  valleys,  create  new  formations.  Vol- 
canoes still  scatter  their  ashes  and  lava,  and  dripping 
caves  sheet  their  floors  with  stalagmite.  The  deposits 
formed  by  erosion  and  transportation  of  currents  go  by 
the  general  name  of  alluvium.  This  name,  however,  is 
particularly  given  to  the  deposits  formed  by  streams 
flowing  in  their  present  beds.  The  older  alluvium, 
resting  directly  upon  the  tertiary  strata,  some  geolo- 
gists ascribe  to  a  catastrophe  different  from  the  opera- 
tions we  now  witness,  and  which  they  call  the  diluvium 
of  the  north.  Hence,  they  call  this  old  deposit  dilu- 
vium, and  also  call  the  era  of  its  formation  the  quater- 
nary period.  Any  remains,  therefore,  found  in  the 
proper  alluvium  belong  to  history  and  archaeology. 
They  must  be  found  in  the  diluvium,  or  quaternary,  to 
be  ranked  as  fossils. 

Other  geologists,  noting  the  slow  change  of  level 
which   is  still  going  on  in  the  world — some  shores  ris- 


Of  Western  Europe. 


ing  and  others  sinking — find  existing  phenomena  suf- 
ficient, if  lapse  of  time  enough  is  allowed,  and  des^- 
nate  ages  by  the  nature  of  the  remains  found  in  them. 
Sir  Charles  Lyell  and  others,  noticing  that  different 
strata  of  the  tertiary  formation  contain  different  pro- 
portions of  extinct  and  still  living  species,  have  divided 
that  formation,  accordingly,  into  three  periods — eocene, 
miocene,  and  pliocene.  Giving  the  name  post-tertiary 
to  all  subsequent  to  the  tertiary,  they  still  find  in  some 
of  the  post-tertiary  formations  remains  of  animals  now 
extinct.  To  this  portion  of  the  post-tertiary  they  give 
the  name  of  post-pliocene.  The  other,  which  contains 
only  the  remains  of  animals  now  existing,  they  call  re- 
cent. Hence  it  is  in  this  formation,  by  whatever  name 
we  call  it,  whether  diluvium,  quaternary,  drift,  or  post- 
pliocene,  that  the  geologist  must  find  human  remains 
before  he  can  show  us  fossil  man. 

In  the  museum  in  Paris  is  a  petrified  skeleton  of  a 
woman  imbedded  in  a  calcareous  rock,  found  in  the 
island  of  Guadaloupe.  But  this  rock  is  still  in  process 
of  formation.  The  sea  washing  up  shells,  with  detritus 
of  the  rock  of  the  island,  forms  a  conglomerate,  in 
which  all  the  shells  are  such  as  now  live  on  the  shore, 
and  the  skeleton  appears  to  belong  to  the  Carib  tribe, 
which  inhabited  the  island  at  a  recent  date. 

In  a  peat-bog  in  Sweden  was  found  the  skeleton  of 
a  bison,  bearing  marks  of  a  wound  made  by  a  hatchet. 
Near  it  was  found  a  stone  hatchet,  which,  on  being  ap- 
plied, fitted  the  wound.  Close  at  hand  was  a  human 
skeleton,  the  hunter  and  his  prey  imbedded  together. 
But  the  bison  is  not  yet  extinct;  it  still  lives  in  the 
Lithuanian  forest,  and  peat  still  grows. 


20  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

Messrs.  Lartet  and  Christy,  great  names  in  these  in- 
vestigations, described,  in  1861,  the  cave  of  Lombrines, 
in  the  Pyrenees,  where  human  bones  were  found  im- 
bedded under  stalagmite,  which  were  pronounced  cotem- 
porary  with  the  mammoth.  But  Mr.  Garrigou  read  a 
paper  before  the  Societe  d'Anthropologie,  in  Paris,  on  the 
15th  of  December,  1864,  in  which  he  stated  that,  upon 
a  subsequent  examination  of  this  cave  and  others  in 
the  Pyrenees,  by  careful  scrutiny  of  the  way  in  which 
the  bones  had  been  washed  in  through  crevices  by  a 
stream  still  running,  he  became  convinced  that  there 
was  no  proof  that  they  were  introduced  at  this  early 
period,  but  that  they  should  be  regarded  as  cotem- 
porary  with  the  lake  dwellings.  He  added  that  Lartet, 
Christy,  d'Archiac,  Milne  Edwards,  and  others,  con- 
curred in  this  conclusion,  and  applied  it  to  other  caves 
in  the  Pyrenees. 

But  there  are  cases  which  can  not  be  so  summarily 
disposed  of.  Of  the  animals  which  lived  in  the  post- 
pliocene  period,  some  are  extinct,  though  the  greater 
number  still  survive.  To  fix  man  as  belonging  to  that 
period,  it  is  necessary  to  show  that  he  was  cotemporary 
with  the  animals  now  extinct.  This  might  be  done  by 
showing  his  remains  in  such  juxtaposition  with  the  ex- 
tinct species  as  to  exclude  any  hypothesis  but  the  one 
that  they  lived  together;  or  else  to  show  human  re- 
mains naturally  inclosed  in  a  deposit  which  was  made 
at  that  period.  The  post-pliocene  period  was  marked 
by  a  cold  climate  m  Western  Europe.  Among  the  ani- 
mals now  extinct,  which  flourished  then,  are  the  cave  bear, 
cave  lion,  cave  hyena,  gigantic  Irish  elk,  the  hairy  ele- 
phant or  mammoth,  the  woolly  rhinoceros,  the  urus  or 


Of  Western  Europe.  i\ 

great  ox  ;  to  which  may  be  added — as  extinct  in  Western 
Europe,  though  still  surviving  in  colder  regions — the 
reindeer.  The  urus  was  extinct  in  Gaul  before  the 
campaigns  of  Julius  Cassar,  though  it  survived  in  Ger- 
many long  after.  The  reindeer  must  have  disappeared 
then,  at  a  still  earlier  day,  and  has  been  kept  alive  to 
this  day  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  only  by  rigid  game 
laws.  The  mammoth  and  rhinoceros  appear  to  have 
vanished  at  a  still  more  remote  period,  as  only  a  few  of 
their  bodies  have  been  found  in  Siberia,  incased  in  ice, 
which  enveloped  them  before  the  flesh  had  begun  to  de- 
cay. Of  the  cave  bear  and  others  we  have  nothing  but 
fossil  remains.  Hence,  Mr.  Lartet,  assuming  epochs 
of  successive  disappearance,  divides  the  post-pliocene 
age  into  four  periods — those  of  the  cave  bear,  of  the 
mammoth  and  rhinoceros,  of  the  reindeer,  and  of  the 
urus.  The  proposition  is,  therefore,  to  show  that  man 
was  a  cotemporary  with  the  first  three  of  these  periods. 
The  caves  of  Perigord  furnish  part  of  the  proofs. 
These  caves  have  yielded  numerous  instruments  made 
of  reindeer  horn.  Some  fragments  appear  to  have  been 
sawed.  One  is  fashioned  into  a  delicate,  fine-pointed 
needle,  with  an  eye  so  small  it  seemed  impossible  it 
could  be  made  with  the  rude  implements  of  those  prim- 
itive people.  But  this  doubt  was  removed  when  Mr. 
Lartet,  with  one  of  the  sharp-pointed  pieces  of  quartz, 
which  seemed  to  have  been  used  as  awls,  made  a  punc- 
ture as  fine.  Some  of  the  reindeer  horns  have  designs 
engraved  upon  them,  representing-  the  deer,  elk,  ox, 
boar,  and  other  animals.  These  are  not  all  mere  out- 
line sketches  ;  some  are  shaded  drawings.  The  most 
interesting  is  an  unfinished  dagger,  the  handle  carved  to 


22  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

represent  a  reindeer  with  his  head  thrown  back,  his  ant- 
lers lying  along  his  shoulders,  his  fore  legs  drawn 
under  his  belly,  and  hind  legs  extended  along  the  mid- 
dle of  the  blade.  The  spirit  of  the  design,  and  the 
skill  with  which  the  natural  form  of  the  horn  is  adapted 
to  it,  make  it  a  veritable  work  of  art.  All  who  have 
seen  these  objects  unite  in  saying  that  they  obviously 
were  carved  from  the  bones  of  recently  killed  animals, 
not  from  fossils  dug  up.  In  the  cave  of  Eyzies  was 
found  embedded  in  breccia,  part  of  the  vertebra  of  a 
young  reindeer,  still  perforated  with  a  flint  arrow-head, 
which,  unquestionably,  penetrated  there  when  the  bone 
was  soft.  Man  was,  therefore,  cotemporary  with  the 
reindeer  in  Southern  France. 

Similar  evidence  connects  him  with  the  mammoth. 
A  tusk  has  been  found  engraved  with  the  head  of  two 
oxen.  A  piece  of  ivory  has  also  been  exhumed  bearing 
a  spirited  and  unmistakable  sketch  of  a  mammoth. 
The  animal  having  been  found  entire,  frozen  in  Siberia,  • 
his  appearance  is  now  known, — not  merely  from  infer- 
ence from  the  skeleton,  but  from  actual  view.  And 
here  is  found  a  portrait  taken  from  life  by  a  man  who 
hunted  the  mammoth  when  he  ranged  the  valleys  of 
Southern  France.  A  wood-cut  of  this  can  be  seen  in 
the  February   number  of  the  "Salem  Natural  History 

Magazine." 

The  cave  of  Aurignac,  in  Upper  Garonne,  near  the 
Pyrenees,  brings  man  in  contact  with  the  cave  bear  and 
hyena,  as  well  as  the  mammoth  rhinoceros  and  reindeer. 
A  peasant  working  on  the  highway,  near  Aurignac,  in 
1865,  noticed  that  rabbits  took  refuge  in  a  hoie  in  the 
hill-side.      Putting  his  hand  into   the  hole  one  day,  he 


Of  Western  Europe.  23 

drew  out  a  human  bone.  He  began  to  remove  the 
earth,  and  found  an  upright  stone  slab.  Removing  the 
slab,  he  found  a  small  cavern  nearly  filled  with  human 
bones.  The  mayor  of  Aurignac  hearing  of  it,  removed 
the  skeletons,  and  buried  them  in  the  village  cemetery. 
But,  being  a  physician,  he  first  examined  them  suffi- 
ciently to  perceive  that  they  were  the  bones  of  eighteen 
persons, — men,  women,  and  children. 

Mr.  Lartet  repaired  to  the  spot  as  soon  as  he  got 
wind  of  the  discovery,  and  made  a  thorough  explora- 
tion. He  found  in  the  cave  a  level  floor,  apparently 
of  made  earth,  in  which  were  still  left  a  few  human 
fragments.  Besides  these  were  a  flint  knife  which  had 
never  been  used,  eighteen  perforated  disks  of  shell 
which  had  apparently  once  formed  a  necklace,  a  carved 
bear's  tusk,  and  a  few  teeth  of  a  lion.  He  also  found 
the  skeleton  of  a  cave  bear,  the  bones  lying  in  such 
order  and  juxtaposition  as  to  show  that  they  had  been 
covered  with  flesh  when  placed  in  the  cave.  These 
bones  were  all  undisturbed,  and  suggest  that  with  the 
quartz  and  shell  and  carved  bone,  they  had  been  left 
there  as  a  funeral  rite  with  the  buried  dead.  When  the 
earth  outside  the  cave  was  removed,  a  hearth  of  flint 
sandstone  was  found,  laid  upon  a  smooth  surface,  exca- 
vated underneath.  Upon  this  were  evidences  of  fire. 
Scattered  about  were  the  bones  of  seventeen  animals, 
including  all  the  extinct  species  I  have  named.  Many 
of  them  were  charred  by  fire  and  scraped  as  if  by  the 
quartz  knife,  which  had  removed  the  meat.  Scattered 
about  were  more  than  a  hundred  objects  of  flint,  knives, 
arrow-heads,  chips,  a  flint  block  from  which  some  of 
these  had  been  chipped,  and  one  of  those  pulley-shaped 


24  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

utensils  of  rough  stone,  which  have  so  puzzled  archae- 
ologists, but  which  the  Danish  antiquaries  take  to  be 
implements  used  in  chipping  off  and  forming  flint  im- 
plements. The  bones  about  this  fire-place  were  many 
of  them  gnawed  by  some  carniverous  beast,  the  soft 
ends  quite  eaten  away,  and  among  the  ashes  were  found 
fossil  excrements  of  the  hyena.  Here  was  indubitable 
evidence  that  man  had  eaten  the  mammoth  and  rhinoc- 
eros; that  he  had  interred  a  cave  bear  while  the  bones 
were  still  covered  with  flesh,  and  that  the  hyena  had 
banqueted  on  the  remains  of  his  feast. 

In  England,  in  a  cave  containing  bones  of  those  ex- 
tinct animals,  a  well-formed  flint  arrow-head  was  found 
lying  under  the  entire  leg  of  a  cave  bear,  all  the  most 
delicate  bones  of  which  were  in  position,  showing  that 
it  had  been  deposited  there  when  bound  together  with 
its  ligaments  at  least,  if  not  covered  with  flesh.  In  the 
cave  of  Engis,  in  Belgium,  a  human  skull  was  found 
with  the  same  surroundings,  imbedded  in  breccia,  under 
a  floor  of  stalagmite. 

The  caves  are  not  the  only  repositories  of  evidence. 
Strata  of  drift,  filled  with  post-pliocene  remains,  have 
also  yielded  stone  arrow-heads  and  hatchets.  M.  Bou- 
cher de  Perthes  first  discovered  them  in  the  valley  of 
the  Somme,  in  Northern  France.  Excavations  made 
to  obtain  earth  for  the  fortifications  of  Abbeville,  and 
railway  cuttings,  gave  him  ample  opportunity  to  explore 
this  formation.  In  1841,  he  began  to  collect  the  im- 
plements so  found ;  but  all  his  statements  were  met 
with  quiet  skepticism,  or  turned  off  with  the  remark 
that  his  so-called  arrow-heads  and  hatchets  were  acci- 
dental  natural  forms.      He  set  about  collecting  all   the 


Of  Western  Europe.  25 

flints  of  natural  form  most  resembling  them;  and  the 
difference  between  the  manufactured  and  the  natural 
flint  was  obvious.  After  years  of  scientific  disdain,  one 
geologist  of  repute,  Dr.  Rigollot,  of  Amiens,  visited 
him,  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  collection  was  of  manufac- 
tured implements,  and,  returning  to  Amiens,  explored 
the  same  stratum  there,  and  found  the  same  objects  of 
stone. 

It  was  objected  that  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  might  be 
deceived;  that  these  implements  might  be  given  to  him 
by  workmen  who  falsely  pretended  to  find  them  in  situ. 
He  followed  the  excavations  in  person,  and  with  his 
own  hands  took  the  hatchets  from  their  beds.  It  was 
then  objected  that  they  might  have  sunk  through  the 
superincumbent  earth  to  their  present  position  long 
after  the  stratum  was  formed.  But  the  soil  was,  in  its 
natural  state,  free  from  fissure;  the  implements  were 
diffused  all  through  the  drift,  were  found  from  eighteen 
to  thirty  feet  below  the  surface,  and  often  found  under- 
neath  animal  fossils. 

But  the  cave  discoveries  had  not  yet  become  rife,  and 
M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  could  not  yet  find  credit.  In 
1859  a  party  of  leading  English  geologists  visited  him, 
saw  his  collection,  explored  the  excavations,  found  the 
implements  there  in  situ,  published  an  account  of  their 
visit,  and  the  scientific  world  at  length  accepted  the 
facts.  The  same  formation  was  explored  where  it  exists 
in  England,  and  with  the  same  result. 

Objection  still  was  raised  that  no  human  bones  had 
yet  been  found  along  with  these  implements.  To  this 
it  was  answered  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  by  Lubbock,  and 
others,  that   this   drift  was   the  deposit  of  a  rapid  cur- 


0.6  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 

rent,  and   much  compressed  by  the  heavy  winter  ice  of 

the  quaternary  period,  so  that  human  bones  might  well 

have  been  destroved  ;    and,  besides,  that  the  Swiss   lakes 

and   Danish  shell   heaps  were  almost  devoid  of  human 

bones.      But,    finally,    at    the    meeting   of   the    Societe 

d'Anthropologie,  of  13th  August,  1864,  M.  Boucher  de 

Perthes  announced   that  he  had  found  fragments  of  hu- 
es 

man  bones,  representing  all  ages.  Remembering  the 
captiousness  which  had  met  his  former  statements,  he 
had  persuaded  the  mayor  and  several  of  the  leading  men 
of  Abbeville  to  accompany  him  to  the  excavations, 
stand  by  the  workmen  as  they  dug,  and  receive  with 
their  own  hands  the  human  fragments  from  their  bed  as 
they  were  reached. 

Of  all  the  relics  found,  no  others  have  excited  so 
much  interest  as  the  human  skulls — one  found  in  the 
cave  of  Neanderthal,  near  Dusseldorf;  the  other  in  the 
cave  of  Engis,  in  Belgium.  The  Neanderthal  skull 
has  given  rise  to  unusual  discussion.  The  brain  capac- 
ity, seventy-five  cubic  inches,  is  verv  near  an  average 
between  a  Hindoo  and  the  largest  known  healthy 
European  skull.  But  while  the  brain  capacity  is  so 
near  an  average,  the  shape  and  formation  are  the  most 
brutal  of  any  known  human  skull.  The  extraordinary 
prominence  of  the  superciliary  arches,  the  unparalleled 
flattening  of  both  the  forehead  and  the  occiput,  and  the 
straightness  of  the  sutures,  make  this  the  most  ape-like 
of  human  skulls.  Learned  men  who  claim  to  know, 
say  it  bears  no  marks  of  having  been  the  skull  of  an 
idiot,  and  no  marks  of  artificial  compression.  The 
rest  of  the  skeleton   has   nothing  peculiar.     The  stout- 


Of  Western  Europe.  27 

ness  of  the  bones  and  the  development  of  the  muscular 
ridges  show  that  the  man  must  have  had  great  physical 
strength.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  whether 
this  remarkable  skull  was  an  individual  instance,  or  the 
ordinary  type  of  some  race.  It  is  undoubtedly  very 
ancient,  but  nothing  found  in  the  cave  with  it,  and 
nothing  in  the  manner  in  which  it  seems  to  have  been 
deposited  there,  warrants  the  statement  that  it  is  en- 
titled to  belong  to  the  post-pliocene  -period.  It  may 
have  been  cotemporary  with  the  mammoth,  but  it  may 
be  much  more  recent. 

The  Engis  skull,  however,  was  found  so  associated 
with  other  fossils,  that  it  is  accepted  as  an  unquestion- 
able relic  of  the  days  of  the  mammoth  and  the  cave 
bear.  This  skull  is  in  no  wise  peculiar.  Its  dimen- 
sions are  almost  precisely  identical  with  two  modern 
skulls,  one  Australian,  and  one  an  English  skull,  noted 
in  Hunterian  museum  as  typically  Caucasian.  So  tar 
as  the  scanty  human  fossil  remains  give  indication,  the 
physical  structure  of  man  has  undergone  no  change 
since  he  first  appeared  on  earth.  Like  existing  ani- 
mals that  have  come  down  from  the  post-pliocene 
period,  his  type  remains  the  same. 

During  that  whole  era,  man  made  little  advance  in 
civilization  in  Western  Europe.  In  the  last  few  thou- 
sand years,  civilization  has  accelerated  in  a  geometrical 
ratio.  But  as  we  dimly  peer  into  the  conjectural  past, 
the  advance  appears  to  have  been,  with  occasional  fluc- 
tuations, more  sluggish,  till  we  get  back  to  a  uniform 
degree  lasting  through  cycles.  The  data  we  have  are 
certainly* scanty.     The  stone  implements  then  used,  so 


28  The  Primitive  Inhabitants 


far  as  yet  discovered,  are  of  the  ruder  type,  simply 
chipped,  not  polished.  No  specimens  of  their  pottery 
have  as  yet  been  found.  There  is  nothing  yet  to  show 
they  knew  anything  of  agriculture.  At  the  same  time, 
their  carvings  became  a  lost  art.  During  all  the  period 
of  the  lake  dwellings,  no  imitations  of  leaves,  animals, 
or  other  natural  objects  were  attempted  before  the  in- 
troduction of  iron.  The  attempt,  even  then,  to  intro- 
duce animal  shapes  into  their  ornamentation,  showed,  in 
that  particular,  very  great  inferiority  to  the  cave  dwell- 
ers of  Perigord.  The  men  of  the  fossil  time,  living 
in  caves,  undoubtedly  were  as  rude  as  some  savage 
tribes  now  living;  but  their  works  and  their  funeral 
rites  show  that  infant  man,  a  new  comer  upon  the 
world,  dwelling  among  mammoths  and  gigantic  elks, 
from  the  beginning  asserted  his  supremacy  over  other 
created  beings,  and  showed  himself  endowed  with  intel- 
ligence,  aspiration  for  art,  and  belief  in  his  immor- 
tality. 

But  I  am  checked  in  calling  this  the  beginning  of 
man.  Certain  bones  have  been  lately  picked  up  in 
Southern  France.  These  bones  have  scratches  upon 
them.  They  are  the  bones  of  the  tropical  elephant. 
The  scratches  are  said  to  be  marks  made  by  a  sharp 
quartz  implement  in  scraping  off  the  meat.  Hence  it 
has  been  intimated  that  the  primitive  inhabitants  of 
Western  Europe  may  have  been  cotemporary  with  the 
tropical  elephant.  This  suggestion  carries  us  back  to 
an  epoch  as  remote  to  the  time  that  we  have  been  con- 
sidering, as  that  is  to  the  present  day.  But  the  sugges- 
tion that  man  lived  then,  is  based  on  no  discovery  of 
remains   of  a  degraded  human   type,  or  of  skeleton  in- 


Of  Western  Europe.  29 

termediate  between  man  and  gorilla,  but  is  founded 
upon  the  supposed  presence  among  the  remains  of  that 
day  of  the  traces  of  human  intelligence.* 

*The  recent  discovery  by  Mr.  Calvert  of  engraved  bones  in 
strata  of  the  miocene  period,  in  the  Dardanelles,  is  considered  as 
having  established  the  fact  of  man's  existence  as  early  as  the 
miocene  epoch. 


DARWINISM     AND     DEITY. 


Darwin  claims  to  have  established  the  existence  of  a 
law  of  nature,  which  regulates  the  progressive  appear- 
ance on  earth  of  the  diversified  forms  of  life.  I  pro- 
pose to  say  a  few  words  about  his  theory,  and  to  add 
some  suggestions  about  laws  of  nature  in  general. 

It  is  accepted  by  all,  that  the  first  forms  of  life  were 
the  simplest;  that  higher  forms  appeared  later,  and  man 
last  of  all.  Whether  we  read  the  written  account  in 
Genesis,  or  try  to  decipher  the  fossil  record  inscribed 
on  the  earth's  strata,  this  general  statement  is  equally 
discerned. 

In  trying  to  account  for  this  progressive  appearance 
of  diversified  forms  of  life,  the  most  obvious  method 
is,  to  ascribe  it  to  successive  acts  of  creative  power. 

This  theory  of  successive  creation  is  upheld  by  some 
men  of  science. 

They  say  that  not  only  was  the  beginning  of  the 
world  a  creation,  but  there  is  reason  for  holding  that 
the  creative  power  is  not  in  abeyance,  but  is  still  in 
daily  exercise.  It  is  said  that  the  spiritual  part  of  man, 
the  soul,  the  Me,  is  not  an  aggregation  of  particles,  but 
is  an  absolute,  indivisible  unit.  It  is  impossible  to  im- 
agine the  consciousness  of  a  person  to  be  divided  into 
separate  consciousnesses.      But  an   absolute,  indivisible 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  3  1 

unit,  not  made  up  of  particles,  is  itself  an  ultimate  par- 
ticle, and  can  not  be  made  from  anything  else.  Hence, 
the  soul  of  each  person,  the  Me,  must  be  an  original 
creation. 

Plato  held  that  the  soul  of  each  person,  or  what  he 
called  the  spiritual  and  immortal  body,  was  brought 
into  being  by  a  direct  act  of  creative  power;  but  also 
maintained  that  all  souls  were  created  in  the  beginning, 
and  that  they  transmigrate  from  body  to  body. 

Now,  if  we  reject  the  doctrine  of  transmigration,  but 
agree  that  the  birth  of  each  human  soul  is  an  act  of  di- 
rect creation,  there  arises  an  antecedent  probability  that 
the  coming  into  being  of  every  new  form  of  life,  every 
species,  has  been  due  to  acts  of  specific  creation. 

Men  of  science  have  said  that  this  antecedent  prob- 
ability is  verified  by  the  facts  of  geology.  It  is  agreed 
by  all  that  the  earth's  surface  has  undergone  great 
changes ;  that  continents  have  been  submerged,  and 
again  elevated  ;  that  arctic  and  torrid  climates  have  suc- 
ceeded each  other  in  territories  now  lying  in  the  tern- 
perate  zone.  And  it  is  said  by  some  that  the  different 
superimposed  strata  indicate  that  there  have  been  breaks 
in  the  continuity  of  life;  that  at  times  some  great  ca- 
tastrophe has  destroyed  all  life,  leaving  only  fossil  epi- 
taphs ;  and  that  new  forms  of  life  followed  with  nothing 
to  generate  them,  with  no  way  of  their  coming  into 
being  but  by  a  new  exercise  of  creative  power. 

It  is  further  said  that  these  successive  creations  are  all 
in  harmony  with  a  purpose  or  design  ;  and  that  this 
same  purpose  or  design  is  exhibited  even  in  certain 
present  phases,  as   in    the  progressive  stages  of  the  hu- 


2  2  Darwinism  and  Deity. 


man  brain  before  birth,  which  resemble  successively  the 
brain  of  various  orders  of  animals  from  the  lower,  up. 

In  the  same  way,  it  has  been  observed  that  in  many 
animals,  including  man,  there  are  rudimentary  parts 
which  are  of  no  use,  but  serve  only  as  reminders  of 
earlier  and  preceding  species  to  which  such  parts  were 
important, — -just  as  the  form  of  the  earliest  metal  im- 
plements (and  the  form  of  an  implement  bears  the 
same  relation  to  the  inventor  that  created  things  do  to 
the  creator)  retained  peculiarities  which  were  of  use  in 
stone  implements,  though  of  no  use  in  the  new  material, 
metal. 

This  whole  theory,  however,  is  falling,  or  perhaps  has 
fallen,  into  disfavor  among  men  of  science.  The  main 
fact  on  which  it  rests  as  a  theory  of  science,  is  now  said 
not  to  exist.  It  is  generally  denied  that  there  has  been 
any  break  in  the  continuity  of  life.  It  is  said  that  the 
great  changes  which  have  visited  the  earth's  surface  were 
not  due  to  catastrophes  which  destroyed  life,  leaving  a 
void  to  be  filled  by  renewed  acts  of  creation  ;  but  were 
wrought  by  causes  which  are  still  in  operation. 

Strata  are  still  forming  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  and  seas. 
Rocks  are  still  cracking  and  crumbling  into  soil.  Hills 
are  washing  away  ;  rivers  are  still  cutting  channels,  and 
forming  alluvium  and  deltas.  Land  is  still  rising  and 
sinking.  Venice  has  sunk  fifteen  inches  since  the 
Doges'  palace  was  built.  Crete  has  tilted  up  since  the 
days  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  ports  on  its  western 
shore  have  risen  twenty  feet  out  of  the  water,  while  the 
cities  on  its  eastern  coast  are  submerged.  The  penin- 
sula of  Norway  and  Sweden  has  been  rising  and   tilting 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  33 

steadily,  the  southern  extremity  rising  at  the  rate  of 
two  feet ;  North  Cape  at  the  rate  of  five  feet  per  century. 
Climates  are  changing.  In  the  last  tour  centuries  there 
has  been  a  constant  increase  in  the  severity  of  the  cli- 
mate in  all  the  region  about  the  upper  part  of  Baffin's 
Bay.  Deserted  habitations  of  Esquimaux  are  found  in 
tracts  where  there  are  no  longer  inhabitants.  At  the 
same  time,  the  glaciers  of  Greenland  have  very  largely 
increased.  Some  of  the  glaciers  of  Switzerland  are 
steadily  growing,  others  diminishing,  others  alternating. 
Coral  reefs  are  still  forming,  volcanoes  are  still  in  erup- 
tion, and  volcanic  islands  still  at  times  thrust  them- 
selves above  the  surface  of  the  sea.  These  operations 
are  precisely  the  same  indicated  by  geology.  It  is  said 
that  give  time  enough,  allow  a  duration  in  which  a  mill- 
ion years  will  count  as  a  fleeting  moment,  these  opera- 
tions would  produce  all  the  changes  that  the  earth's  sur- 
face is  said  to  have  undergone. 

Now,  if  the  world  has  always  gone  on  as  it  is  now 
going  on,  the  presumption  arises,  and  this  presumption 
accords  with  what  we  know  of  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe,  that  there  has  always  been  a  certain  sequence 
of  events  ;  that  every  fact  of  nature  is  related  to  and 
dependent  on  other  facts,  and  has  grown  out  of  facts 
which  preceded  it.  Hence,  it  is  said  that  every  new 
form  of  life,  every  new  animal  and  plant,  has  been 
evolved  or  developed  from  already  existing  species. 
Darwin  claims  that  this  progressive  development  is  de- 
termined and  regulated  by  a  law  of  nature,  which  he  has 
eliminated,  and  which  he  calls  the  law  of  Selection. 

A  great  many  marked  varieties  of  domesticated  ani- 
mals and  plants  have  been  produced  by  the  care  of  man. 


34-  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

They  have  not  been  produced  by  manufacture  or  cre- 
ation, but  by  eliminating  and  perpetuating  peculiarities 
which  have  naturally  appeared  in  individuals.  A  horse, 
a  bull,  a  dog,  having  some  special  quality,  is  carefully 
mated.  The  best  of  his  progeny  is  selected,  and  care- 
fully mated.  The  process  is  repeated  till  a  new  variety 
is  introduced.  This  variety  is  not  a  true  species,  per- 
manent and  self-perpetuating;  but  it  lasts  as  a  determi- 
nate variety,  as  long  as  the  supervening  care  of  man 
preserves  it.  Now  it  is  conceivable  that  some  natural 
cause  might  operate  in  the  same  manner  as  this  care  of 
man,  and  by  operating  permanently,  produce  a  perma- 
nent natural  difference,  and  so  create  a  species. 

Among  men,  hereditary  traits  are  often  noticed.  A 
heavy  lower  jaw  has  been  a  feature  of  the  Hapsburg 
family  for  centuries.  And  it  is  said  that  the  ladies  of  a 
certain  English  ducal  family  still  are  distinguished  by 
the  beautiful  form  of  the  neck,  which  they  inherited 
from  their  ancestor,  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  court  of 
Charles  II. 

Besides  these  minute  peculiarities,  climate,  food,  and 
the  other  conditions  of  life  affect  physical  traits.  When 
I  was  in  Colorado  a  few  years  ago  I  was  told  that  the 
chests  of  persons  and  of  horses  that  had  lived  several 
years  at  Georgetown,  some  9,000  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  had  become  expanded.  The  necessity  or 
breathing  a  larger  amount  of  the  rarified  air  of  that  ele- 
vated region  required  larger  lungs.  And  persons  who 
follow  a  calling  requiring  especial  use  of  particular 
muscles  or  organs  find  those  muscles  and  organs  largely 
develop;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  parts  of  the  body 
long  disused   have  a  tendency  to   shrink  and   diminish. 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  35 

In  the  same  way,  diet  and  mode  of  life  affect  the  body. 
Each  nation  in  Europe  has  its  characteristics,  and  the 
American  people,  though  so  recent,  are  already  dis- 
tinguishable from  their  ancestors. 

Now  two  facts  are  quite  certain.  One  is,  that  no  two 
animals,  even  of  the  same  species,  are  precisely  alike. 
Every  individual  has  its  own  peculiarities.  The  other 
fact  is,  that  vastlv  more  are  born  than  arrive  at  matu- 
rity.  If  all  animals  born  reached  maturity,  the  world 
would  soon  be  heaped  up  with  the  crowd.  Hence,  there 
is  a  continual  competitive  struggle  for  existence,  and  in 
this  struggle  those  mostly  survive  which  are  best  fitted 
to  survive  in  the  existing  conditions  of  life. 

It,  for  example,  various  species  should  migrate  to  the 
Arctic  regions,  the  sustenance  of  animal  heat  would  be- 
come a  matter  of  vital  importance.  White  is  the  color 
that  protects  against  external  heat  or  cold.  Hence,  those 
animals  which  should  happen  to  have  white  or  nearly 
white  fur  would,  other  things  being  equal,  have  the 
best  chance  of  surviving.  Besides,  a  white-furred  animal 
would  be  least  distinguishable  on  the  snowy  surface, 
and  so  would  have  the  best  chance  of  escaping  from  its 
pursuers,  and  at  the  same  time,  the  best  chance  of 
coming  unperceived  upon  its  own  prey.  These  con- 
stant chances  operating  through  cycles  would  tend  to 
eliminate  all  dark-skinned  animals,  leaving  only  the 
white  to  survive.  So  in  animals  that  trust  to  speed, 
either  for  their  own  safety,  or  for  overtaking  their  prey, 
the  swiftest  would  have  the  best  chance  for  life,  and  in 
long  course  of  ages,  the  swift-footed  of  those  species 
would  tend  to  predominate,  and  the  slow  to  disappear. 

So   of  an    insect  tribe   infesting    trees,  if  one  should 


o6  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

happen  to  be  born  somewhat  resembling  the  bark  of  the 
tree  in  appearance,  it  would  have  a  chance  of  escaping 
unobserved  the  birds  that  snap  up  its  brighter-colored 
kindred.  Of  the  progeny  of  this  one,  such  as  inherited 
this  peculiarity  would  have  the  same  chance  of  preserv- 
ing life;  and  so,  in  the  long  course  of  time,  would  grow 
of  a  species  so  closely  resembling  the  bark  of  the  tree 
on  which  it  lived,  as  to  find  its  safety  therein. 

In  the  same  wav,  if  any  individual  should  happen  to 
be  born  with  increased  facility  for  securing  subsistence, 
either  greater  efficiency  in  obtaining  food,  or  greater 
capacity  for  assimilating  the  food  at  hand,  such  indi- 
vidual would  have  increased  chance  of  surviving  in  the 
struggle  for  life;  and  its  progeny  inheriting  the  same 
peculiarity  would,  by  having  the  same  chance  of  sur- 
viving, increase  the  tendency  to  propagate  this  peculiar- 
ity of  structure. 

The  great  changes  which  the  earth's  surface  has  under- 
gone would  give  greater  room  for  the  display  of  this 
struggle  for  life.  Change  of  climate  and  soil  would 
change  vegetation.  And  this  change  of  the  conditions 
of  life  would  impose  new  conditions  upon  the  chances 
of  survivorship.  It  might  intensify  the  chances  of  the 
predominating  varieties,  or  it  might  nullify  their  chances 
and  give  increased  chances  to  some  new  peculiarity. 

Besides  the  law  of  survivorship  of  the  fittest,  which  is 
called  the  law  of  Natural  Selection,  there  is  another  ele- 
ment, somewhat  analogous,  called  Sexual  Selection. 
The  males  of  certain  animals  have  a  contest  for  the 
possession  of  the  female.  She  remains  an  indifferent 
spectator,  and  quietly  goes  off  with  the  victor.  Here 
the  strongest  and  most  agile  males  have  progeny,  while 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  37 

the  weaker  leave   no  offspring.      Hence  there  is  a  tend- 
ency to  produce  a  race  of  strong  active  males. 

In  other  races,  particularly  among  birds,  the  female 
makes  her  selection.  One  species  is  carried  away  by 
song.  The  males  exercise  all  their  vocal  powers,  and 
the  sweetest  singer  carries  away  the  prize.  Another 
species  is  attracted  by  brilliant  plumage;  and  here  the 
lucky  male  endowed  with  the  brightest  feathers  succeeds. 
This  course  of  selection  tends  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages 
to  increase  the  musical  power  in  the  one  species,  and  the 
brilliancy  of  plumage  in  the  other. 

However  minute  any  single  variation  from  existing 
types  might  be,  it  is  said  that  give  time  enough,  time 
without  stint,  time  without  limit,  these  processes  of 
natural  selection,  together  with  the  changes  of  climate 
and  surface,  would  be  sufficient  to  account  for  the  pro- 
duction of  the  various  diversified  forms  of  life  which 
have  appeared  since  the  first  were  brought  into  being. 

But  not  only  might  new  forms  of  life  be  so  produced. 
It  is  further  said,  there  are  reasons  for  believing  they 
have  been  actually  so  produced. 

The  fact  that  new  breeds,  that  new  temporary  varieties 
are  produced  in  a  short  time  by  superintending  human 
care,  raises  the  presumption  that  permanent  changes  of 
structure,  that  is,  new  species,  would  be  produced  by 
natural  causes,  operating  for  an  indefinite  duration  in  a 
way  analogous  to  human  care. 

Some  facts  strengthen  this  presumption.  For  in- 
stance: pigs  in  Florida  feed  on  an  herb  which  rots  off 
the  hoofs  of  all  but  black  pigs.  This  cause  has  not 
been  operating  long  enough  to  prevent  the  birth  of  light 
or  party-colored  pigs;  but  it  prevents  any  but  the  black 


3  S  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

from  arriving  at  maturity.  Further  it  is  said,  that  parts 
that  are  serviceable  in  the  lower  orders  of  animals  are 
found  in  a  rudimentary  state  in  the  higher,  as  if  they 
had  gradually  disappeared  by  disuse.  For  instance,  the 
os  coccyx  in  man  is  a  rudimentary  tail.  And  the  punc- 
ture in  the  lower  part  of  the  os  humerus,  which  is  the 
passage  for  a  nerve  in  monkeys,  is  of  no  use  in  the 
human  frame.  Yet  it  is  found  in  one  per  cent,  of  human 
skeletons  of  the  present  day,  and  in  a  larger  per  cent,  of 
human  skeletons  three  or  four  thousand  years  old,  in 
some  parts  of  France. 

So  far  I  have  offered,  not  a  sketch,  but  only  a 
rude  indication  of  the  general  drift  of  the  theory  of  spe- 
cific creation  and  of  Darwin's  theory  of  the  laws  of 
selection.  As  to  the  respective  merits  and  probabilities 
of  these  theories,  I  do  not  pretend  to  offer  an  opinion. 
Non  nostrum  inter  vos  tantas  componere  lites.  Men  who 
devote  their  lives  to  scientific  investigations  will  toil  to 
a  determination,  and  the  world  will  accept  the  result. 

But  there  are  some  suggestions  that  any  of  us  may 
make  about  Darwin's  theory.  He  does  not  pretend  to 
solve  the  question,  as  to  the  origin  of  life,  or  the  essence 
of  life,  or  the  power  that  produces  the  initial  variations 
in  the  forms  of  life  which  give  opportunity  for  selection. 
Accepting  these,  his  aim  is  to  ascertain  and  determine 
a  law  by  which  they  produce  the  permanent  forms  of 
life,  which  we  call  species. 

His  theory  as  to  the  existence  of  this  law,  is  gaining 
ground  daily  among  men  devoted  to  natural  science. 

But  his  theory  can  hardly  yet  be  called  "the  law"  of 
the  development  of  species.  For  a  true  law  of  nature 
explaining  the  phenomena  of  a  certain   class,  must  ex- 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  39 


plain  all  the  phenomena  of  that  class.  It  can  not  be 
accepted  as  a  law  of  nature,  if  it  be  inconsistent  with  a 
single  fact  of  nature.  And  the  law  of  selection  con- 
fessedly does  not  explain  all  the  phenomena  of  the  de- 
velopment of  species.  For  Darwin  says,  there  are  in 
man,  and  other  animals,  parts  which  do  not  appear  to 
be  of  any  present  use,  or  to  have  ever  been  of  use  in 
any  previous  form  of  life.  And  such  parts  can  not  be 
accounted  for  bv  the  law  of  selection. 

Further,  even  so  far  as  the  law  of  selection  is  con- 
sistent with  known  facts,  it  can  not  now  be  taken  as  ab- 
solutely true,  but  only  as  provisionally  true.  For  a 
larger  acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  nature  may  show  it 
to  be  incorrect,  and  require  it  to  be  modified  and  aban- 
doned. The  Ptolemaic  theory  of  the  universe  was  a 
good  scientific  theory  in  its  day,  for  it  was  consistent 
with  all  the  facts  then  known  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 
But  a  larger  acquaintance  with  the  movements  of  those 
bodies  required  that  theory  to  be  dropped  and  sup- 
planted by  the  Copernican  theory. 

Finally,  although  several  species  have  disappeared 
within  the  last  two  thousand  years,  it  is  not  known 
that  a  single  new  species  has  appeared  since  the  last 
fossil  era.  It  must  therefore  take,  so  far  as  we  know, 
thousands  of  years,  to  produce  any,  even  the  smallest, 
permanent  change  in  the  structure  of  either  animal  or 
vegetable  life.  But  though  we  thus  know  that  a  very 
long  period  is  necessary,  we  do  not  know  how  much 
would  be  sufficient.  We  have  not  yet,  therefore, 
attained  at  anything  like  a  unit  of  measurement  of  time 
required  for  the  workings  of  Darwin's  law. 

But  late  discoveries  have  shown   that  the  people  who 


4<D  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

lived  in  southern  France  when  the  reindeer  and  the 
hairy  elephant  abounded  there,  attained  not  only  me- 
chanical skill,  but  considerable  artistic  power  in  carving. 
The  skeletons  found  in  the  cave  of  Engis  show  that 
man,  just  as  we  see  him  now,  with  well-developed  skull 
of  the  present  type,  existed  in  the  post-pliocene  periods. 
Indications  of  man,  flint  implements  made  by  him,  have 
indeed  been  found  dating  back  to  the  still  earlier  period 
when  the  tropical  elephant  roamed  in  France.  Lyell, 
speaking  of  changes  in  physical  geography  since  those 
skeletons  were  washed  into  the  cave  of  Engis,  says,  "  But 
although  we  may  be  unable  to  estimate  the  minimum 
required  for  the  changes  in  physical  geography  above 
alluded  to,  we  can  not  fail  to  perceive  that  the  duration 
of  the  period  (the  post-pliocene)  must  have  been  very 
protracted,  and  that  other  ages  of  comparative  inaction 
may  have  followed,  separating  the  post-pliocene  from 
the  historical  periods,  and  constituting  an  interval  no 
less  indefinite  in  its  duration." 

Then  if  man,  the  final  product,  existed  fully  devel- 
oped, as  we  see  him  now,  so  early,  and  we  are  still  un- 
able to  estimate  the  duration  required  by  Darwin's  law, 
to  produce  even  the  slightest  change  of  species,  it  may 
be  that  the  development  from  a  mollusk  up  to  man,  in 
accordance  with  Darwin's  law,  would  demand  even 
greater  duration  than  the  dizzy  cycles  allowed  by  geol- 
ogy for  the  formation  of  all  the  earth's  crust. 

While  men  of  science  are  interested  in  investigating 
and  ferreting  out  the  truths  of  nature,  the  world  at 
large  are  more  concerned  in  the  consequences  of  the 
researches  than  in  the  researches  themselves.  More 
people  care  for  an  accurate  prediction   of  the  weather, 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  41 


than  for  mere  meteorological  investigation.  The  theo- 
ries and  processes  of  chemistry  interest  few  compared 
with  the  number  who  prize  the  practical  appliances  re- 
sulting from  the  studies  of  chemists.  The  whole  mat- 
ter  of  spectrum  analysis  was  ignored  by  the  bulk  of 
mankind  as  a  scientific  whim,  till  it  was  found  to  be  of 
service  in  business. 

So  it  is  with  any  proposition  of  science  which  bears 
upon  religious  dogma  or  theological  opinion.  As  these 
are  matters  of  intense  concern,  any  scientific  theory 
which  bears  upon  such  matters  is  apt  in  the  first  place 
to  meet  with  approval  or  rejection  according  to  that 
bearing.  Now,  the  belief  is  deeply  seated  in  men  that 
God  made  the  world  ;  that  all  we  see,  is  His  handiwork. 
And  when  it  is  proposed  to  prove  that  man,  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  and  all  trees,  were  called  into  being 
by  some  law  of  nature,  there  is  an  instinctive  feeling, 
that  here  is  an  attempt  to  withdraw  the  world  from  his 
supervision,  and  substitute  a  laboratory  in  his  place. 
Whether  this  feeling  is  well-grounded  or  not,  depends 
somewhat  upon  the  true  meaning  of  the  phrase  "laws 
of  nature." 

What  are  the  laws  of  nature?  In  a  general  way  it 
may  be  said  they  are  formulas,  expressing  the  order  of 
succession,  and  the  mode  of  operation  of  natural  phe- 
nomena. The  law  of  light  explains  the  phenomena  of 
light.  It  says  the  phenomena  of  light  are  produced  by 
the  undulations  of  a  subtle  ether.  The  ether  is  made 
to  undulate  by  the  appearance  of  a  luminous  body.  A 
luminous  body  is  one  which  causes  the  ether  to  undu- 
late. It  causes  the  ether  to  undulate  by  virtue  of  some 
innate   force  of  nature.      What  is  that  force  of  nature? 


42  Darwinism  and  Deity. 


The  law  of  electricity  explains  the  order  and  suc- 
cession of  electrical  phenomena.  Electrical  phenomena 
are  produced  by  a  natural  force  called  electricity.  What 
is  that  natural  force? 

Physical  science  concerns  itself  only  with  phenomena 
and  their  order  of  succession.  If  we  ask  what  is  the 
nature  of  the  force  which  produces  phenomena,  it  has 
no  answer. 

This  can  be  illustrated  farther,  by  taking  a  single 
force  of  nature;  for  example,  the  attraction  of  gravita- 
tion. I  remember  when  in  college,  Prof.  Pierce,  the 
chief  of  American  mathematicians,  after  going  over  on 
the  blackboard  a  demonstration  of  the  theory  of  uni- 
versal gravitation,  turned  to  the  class,  and  said  :  "  Here, 
gentlemen,  is  a  demonstration  of  that  law.  We  have 
proved  that  every  particle  of  matter  tends  toward  every 
other  particle  of  matter  in  inverse  proportion  to  the 
square  of  the  distance,  etc.  If  you  ask  what  makes  them 
so  tend,  this  department  has  no  answer;  you  must  take 
that  question  to  another  department  of  the  university." 

Newton  had  already  said  substantially  the  same 
thing.  At  the  close  of  the  Principia  he  savs:  "Hith- 
erto, I  have  not  been  able  to  deduce  the  cause  of  those 
properties  from  phenomena,  and  I  frame  no  hypothesis; 
for  whatever  is  deduced  from  phenomena,  is  to  be  called 
an  hypothesis,  and  hypotheses,  whether  metaphysical  or 
physical,  whether  of  occult  qualities  or  mechanical, 
have  no  place  in  experimental  philosophy.  To  us,  it 
is  enough  that  gravity  does  really  exist  and  act  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  which  we  have  explained." 

If  experimental  philosophy  will  not  tell  us  what  is 
this   force  that  we  call   gravity  or  attraction   of  gravita- 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  43 

tion,  let  us  recur  to  another  master  mind,  whose  grand 
intellect  was  absorbed,  not  in  problems  of  experimental 
philosophy,  but  in  fathoming  the  essence  of  things. 

Newton  develops  one  law,  the  law  of  inertia;  that  is, 
that  matter  is  not  self-moving,  but  remains  at  rest  till 
it  is  moved,  and  then  continues  moving  in  the  direction 
impelled,  till  it  is  stopped.  Plato  also  savs  that  matter 
is  inert,  and  moves  only  as  it  is  moved.  But  he  con- 
siders farther,  what  is  it  that  causes  motion  ?  For 
instance,  in  the  Phsedrus,  while  proving  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  he  says:  "And  therefore  the  self- 
moving  is  the  beginning  of  motion.  But  if  the  self- 
moving  is  immortal,  he  who  affirms  that  self-motion  is 
the  very  idea  and  essence  of  the  soul  will  not  be  put  to 
confusion,  for  the  body  which  is  moved  from  without  is 
soulless;  but  that  which  is  moved  from  within  has  a 
soul,  and  this  is  involved  in  the  nature  of  a  soul." 

Holding  that  all  motion,,  that  is,  all  force,  is  simply 
the  exercise  of  a  spiritual  being,  when  he  comes,  in  the 
Timaeus,  to  explain  the  origin  and  creation  and  opera- 
tion of  the  universe,  he  accounts  for  the  forces  and 
motions  of  nature,  by  holding  that  the  universe  is  a 
living  being.  As  the  spiritual  must  precede  the  cor- 
poreal, Plato  says,  "  God  first  created  the  universe,  a 
spirit,  a  soul;"  then  adds,  "Now,  when  the  Creator 
had  framed  the  soul  according  to  his  will,  he  formed 
within  the  mind  the  corporeal  universe,  and  brought 
them  together  and  united  them  centre  to  centre.  The 
soul,  interfused  everywhere  from  centre  to  the  circum- 
ference of  heaven,  of  which  she  is  the  external  envelop- 
ment, herself  turning  in   herself,  began  a  divine  begin- 


44  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

ning  of  never-ceasing  and  rational  life,  enduring  through 
all  time." 

Plato,  then,  as  the  result  of  the  reflections  of  his 
life,  held  that  all  the  motions  in  nature,  that  is,  all 
natural  phenomena,  are  caused  directly  by  a  spiritual 
being  which  pervades  the  universe.  Hence,  it  follows 
that  what  we  call  the  forces  of  nature  are  only  the  will 
and  direct  action  of  that  spirit. 

Now  what  is,  or  rather,  who  is,  the  spiritual  being 
that  pervades  all  space?  There  can  be  but  one  answer, 
and  we  can  give  it  in  the  words  of  Newton. 

The  very  paragraph  preceding  the  one  in  which  he  says, 
experimental  philosophy  does  not  pretend  to  say  what 
gravity  is,  but  only  how  it  acts,  is  a  statement  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  universe  ;  and  he  wrote  to  Bentley  that  he 
put  this  paragraph  into  the  Principia  as  an  addition  and 
mere  hint,  which  others  may  develop.  He  says:  "God 
is  omnipotent,  not  virtually  onlv,  but  also  substantially. 
In  Him  are  all  things  contained  and  moved.  It  is  al- 
lowed by  all  that  the  Supreme  God  exists  necessarily; 
and  by  the  same  necessity  He  exists  always,  and  every- 
where. Whence,  also,  He  is  all  similar,  all  eye,  all  ear, 
all  brain,  all  arm,  all  power  to  perceive,  to  understand, 
to  act,  but  in  a  manner  not  at  all  human,  in  a  manner 
not  at  all  corporeal,  in  a  manner  utterly  unknown  to  us." 

Plato  says  what  we  call  the  forces  of  nature  is  only 
the  direct  action  of  a  spiritual  being  who  pervades  the 
universe,  enveloping  every  particle  of  matter.  And 
Newton  adds,  that  being  is  the  living  God. 

The  last  grand  generalization  of  science,  the  corre- 
lation of  forces  and  the  indestructibility  of  force,  does 
not  in   any  way  affect   this   statement.      It   is   true   that 


Darwinism  and  Deity.  45 

force  in  nature  is  sometimes  in  active  operation,  some- 
times apparently  latent;  is  manifested  successively  in 
gravitation,  cohesion,  affinity,  electrical  attraction  and 
repulsion,  heat,  etc.,  and  the  aggregate  of  force  in  the 
universe  is  never  increased,  never  diminished,  but  re- 
mains continually  the  same.  But  whether  we  suppose 
this  force  to  be  a  quality  inherent  in  matter,  or  to  have 
been  imparted  to  the  universe  at  its  original  creation, 
or  to  be  the  continual  action  of  the  omnipotent  being 
who  envelops  every  particle  in  the  universe,  is  a  mat- 
ter wholly  indifferent  to  physical  science.  Its  investi- 
gations and  inductions  are  equally  consistent  with  either 
hypothesis.  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  physical 
science  to  determine  which  is  true. 

It  is  quite  supposable  that  in  time,  or  at  least  in 
eternity,  the  Omnipotent  might  lay  aside  this  universe, 
like  shifting  a  scene,  and  introduce  new  orders  of  being 
and  new  natural  laws. 

Let  the  imagination  penetrate  to  the  faintest  nebulae, 
to  the  remotest  indications  of  matter,  and  as  far  be- 
yond as  its  wearied  pinions  can  soar;  yet  a  sphere  em- 
bracing all  it  can  guess  at  would  be  but  a  speck  in  in- 
finite space.  And  it  is  supposable  that  beyond  there 
may  be  even  now  other  universes  unlike  this,  where 
other  forms  of  being,  and  a  different  natural  system 
may  prevail  ;  where  gravitation  and  electricity  are  un- 
known. 

But  such  speculative  possibilities  are  outside  of  the 
domain  of  physical  science.  They  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it;  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  them.  It  is  con- 
cerned   only   with   what    is    actually   going    on    in    this 


46  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

universe,  with  what   has    happened,  and  with  what  will 
happen  so  long  as  it  shall  last. 

When,  therefore,  we  use  the  phrase,  "  The  Laws  of 
Nature,"  we  only  use  a  convenient  form  of  speech  for 
generalizing  what  we  see  of  the  operations  of  the  universe; 
and  a  phrase  often  first  cloaks  a  fact,  then  smothers 
it.  But  if  Plato  and  Newton  are  right  in  their  percep- 
tion of  those  things  which  they  specially  perceived  best, 
the  laws  of  nature,  in  truth,  are  only  statements  of  our 
perceptions  of  God's  continued  work.  Hence,  as  a 
matter  of  theological  concern,  it  matters  not  whether 
new  species  are  brought  into  being  by  what  we  call 
"specific  creation,"  or  by  what  we  call  "  the  laws  of 
nature."  In  either  case  it  is  equally  immediately  God's 
own  act. 

One  further  remark  will  be  all.  Many  scientific 
theories,  when  first  broached,  have  to  encounter  not 
only  arguments,  but  also  prejudices. 

Darwin's  law  is  no  exception.  It  is,  indeed,  at  first 
view,  at  all  events,  sadly  at  war  with  our  notions  of  the 
dignity  of  human  nature.  When  Shakespeare  says : 
"What  a  piece  of  work  man  is  !  How  noble  in  rea- 
son !  How  infinite  in  faculties  !  In  form  and  moving 
how  express  and  admirable!  In  action  how  like  an 
angel  !  In  apprehension  how  like  a  God  !"  And 
when  the  Psalmist  sings,  "What,  is  man,  that  Thou 
art  mindful  of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou 
visitest  him  ? 

"  For   thou    hast    made   him    a    little  lower  than  he 
angels,  and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor. 

"Thou    madest    him    to    have    dominion    over   the 


Darwinism   and  Deity.  47 

works  of  Thv  hands  ;    Thou  has   put  all   things   under 
his  feet,"  every  heart  responds. 

Hence,  we  recoil  from  Darwin's  statement:  "We 
thus  learn  that  man  is  descended  from  a  hairy  quad- 
ruped, furnished  with  a  tail  and  pointed  ears,  prob- 
ably arboreal  in  its  habits,  and  an  inhabitant  of  the  Old 
World.  This  creature,  if  its  whole  structure  has  been 
examined  by  a  naturalist,  would  have  been  classed 
among;  the  Ouadrumana,  as  surely  as  would  the  com- 
mon  and  still  more  ancient  progenitor  of  the  Old  and 
New  World  monkey.  The  Ouadrumana  and  all  the 
hio-her  mammals  are  probably  derived  from  an  ancient 
marsupial  animal,  and  this,  through  a  long  line  of 
diversified  forms,  either  from  some  reptile-like,  or  some 
amphibian-like  creature,  and  this  again  from  some  fish- 
like animal.  In  the  dim  obscurity  of  the  past,  we 
can  see  that  the  early  progenitor  of  all  the  Vertebrata 
must  have  been  an  aquatic  animal,  provided  with 
branchiae,  with  the  two  sexes  united  in  the  same  in- 
dividual, and  with  the  most  important  organs  of  the 
body  (such  as  the  brain  and  heart)  imperfectly  devel- 
oped. This  animal  seems  to  have  been  more  like  the 
larvas  of  our  existing  marine  ascidians,  than  any  other 
known  form." 

But  when  the  first  feeling  of  disgust  abates,  two  sug- 
gestions present  themselves.  While  it  is  true,  there 
must  be  a  difficulty  in  determining  at  what  period  of 
such  a  course  of  development  man  appeared  with  an 
immortal  and  responsible  soul,  it  is  equally  true,  that 
in  the  case  of  every  individual  man  we  are  unable  to 
say  just  at  what  time  a  soul  was  united  to  the  body. 

The  other  suggestion  is  this  :    The  theory  of  Darwin 


48  Darwinism  and  Deity. 

is  based  on  the  supposition  that  each  step  of  positive 
improvement  grows  out  of  a  struggle  with  the  condi- 
tions of  lite,  in  which  the  worthy  succeed,  and  in  which 
each  success  is  only  a  terrace  and  coin  of  vantage  for 
further  progress.  And  further,  if  a  mere  senseless 
shell-fish  can  struggle  up  through  diversified  forms  to 
such  a  being  as  man,  what  glorious  visions  of  greatness 
yet  to  be  attained  does  not  the  fact  suggest  ! 

The  sum  of  these  remarks,  then,  is  this  :  Darwin 
does  not  propose  to  explain  the  origin  and  essence  of 
life.  He  assumes  that  simple  forms  of  animal  life 
were  originally  created  with  certain  powers  and  capabil- 
ities. He  proposes  to  explain  the  manner  in  which 
more  complex  forms  have  since  appeared.  He  claims 
that  the  action  and  reaction  of  these  powers  and  capa- 
bilities, and  of  the  conditions  of  life  on  each  other,  con- 
stitute a  law  of  nature,  which  he  calls  the  law  of  selec- 
tion, and  that  all  the  diversified  forms  of  life  which 
have  appeared  on  earth  since  the  origin  of  life,  have 
come  into  existence  in  accordance  with  this  law. 

This  theory,  however,  can  not  as  yet  be  accepted  as 
a  demonstrated  law  since  there  are  confessedly  phenom- 
ena which  it  does  not  account  for. 

Further,  so  far  as  it  is  consistent  with  actual  phenom- 
ena, it  can  not  be  accepted  as  absolutely  true,  but  only 
as  provisionals  true.  For  if  true  according  to  the 
present  state  of  human  knowledge,  a  larger  acquaint- 
ance with  the  phenomena  of  nature  may  overthrow  it, 
and  require  some  new  theory. 

And  further,  as  the  development  of  no  new  species 
has  ever  yet  been  actually  observed,  there  is  no  means  of 
determining  the  duration  of  time  required   to   produce, 


Darwifiism  and  Deity.  49 

in  accordance  with  his  theory,  the  slightest  permanent 
variation  in  the  forms  of  life.  And  as  man,  fully  de- 
veloped,  existed  at  least  in  the  later  fossil  period,  his" 
theory  may  require  a  greater  immensity  of  time  than  is 
allowed  by  geology  for  entire  formation  of  the  earth. 

And,  in  fine,  if  the  law  of  selection  be  a  true  law  of 
nature,  yet  it  and  all  the  laws  of  nature  are  only  for- 
mulas, expressing  human  apprehensions  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Creator  carries  on  the  universe. 


SOME  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE 
MOUND   BUILDERS. 


The  first  explorers  of  this  valley  were  surprised  to 
find  in  the  solitudes  of  the  wilderness,  overgrown  with 
ancient  forests,  huge  earthworks,  concerning  which  the 
Indians  had  not  even  a  tradition.  Interest  being  once 
aroused,  these  works  have  become  the  object  of  great  ex- 
amination and  much  study. 

They  have  been  found  over  a  large  part  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  They  are  so  numerous  that  Ohio  alone 
is  estimated  to  contain  some  thousands,  large  and  small. 
They  vary  greatly  in  magnitude.  Some  are  trifling  em- 
bankments scarcely  rising  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  or  little  hillocks  three  or  four  feet  high  ;  while 
others,  like  the  works  of  Newark  and  Portsmouth,  in 
this  State,  embrace  fourteen  and  sixteen  miles  of  em- 
bankment; or,  like  the  mound  at  Cahokia,  Illinois, 
have  a  base  of  six  acres,  a  summit  platform  of  five  acres, 
and  a  height  of  ninety  feet,  containing  twenty  million 
cubic  feet  of  earth. 

They  vary  as  greatlv  in  design  as  in  size.";  The  pur- 
pose of  some  is  obvious;  the  intention  of  others  has 
not  yet  been  divined.  Some  are  fortifications  ;  some 
lookouts  or  signal  stations.  Some,  filled  with  bones, 
are  clearly  burial   mounds.      The  large  conical   mounds 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         51 

have  been  the  subject  of  much  speculation.  The  late 
Dr.  Wilson,  of  Newark,  told  me  he  believed  they  were 
raised  gradually  by  successive  burials  ;  that  a  layer  of 
bodies  or  skeletons  was  covered  with  earth  ;  that,  after 
some  time,  upon  this  was  placed  another  layer  of  bodies 
covered  with  earth  ;  and  by  such  repetition  the  mound 
grew.  Since  then,  Governor  Hayes,  who  was  present 
at  the  opening  of  the  great  mound  at  Miamisburg,  told 
me  that  it  was  marked  by  a  stratification  of  earth,  with 
an  appearance  of  vegetable  mold  between  the  layers.  The 
same  appearance  was  noted,  according  to  the  account  in 
the  American  Pioneer,  at  the  removal  of  the  large  mound 
that  formerly  stood  in  this  city.  And  in  the  exploration 
of  the  Gravecreek  mound,  besides  this  stratification,  the 
soil  appeared  mottled,  as  if  by  the  decay  of  perishable 
substances  inclosed  in  it.  The  same  stratified  appear- 
ance is  described  in  the  appearance  of  similar  mounds 
in  Squire  and  Davis'  work,  and  in  Pickett's  history  of 
Alabama.  In  some  mounds,  perhaps  more  recent,  frag- 
ments of  bones  are  found  in  the  layers.  This  appear- 
ance is  so  uniform  that  it  is,  I  think,  safe  to  agree  with 
Dr.  Wilson,  in  ascribing  the  large  conical  mounds  to  a 
gradual  accretion  by  successive  burials. 

There  is  another  class,  sometimes  circular,  more  often 
rectangular,  having  flat  summits.  These  are  called 
truncated  mounds,  when  the  height  is  considerable ; 
terraces,  when  the  surface  is  large  compared  with  the 
height.  These  always  have  a  graded  ascent  to  the  sum- 
mit, frequently  one  on  each  side. 

These  appear  to  have  been  constructed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  an   elevated  platform.      This  may  have 


52        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

been   for  the  residence  of  chiefs,  or  for  the  elevation   of 
temples,  or  for  the  performance  of  public  rites. 

Others  are  long  rectangular  inclosures,  apparently 
places  for  public  games  or  sports. 

Others  comprise  a  vast  series  of  embankments  ;  cir- 
cles, squares,  connecting  avenues,  and  other  geometrical 
figures,  as  surprising  by  the  precision  of  their  outline 
as  by  their  magnitude.     At  these,  conjecture  is  baffled. 

Others  again  are  simply  raised  figures  of  men,  ani- 
mals, birds,  reptiles,  on  a  gigantic  scale.  Here,  too, 
even  guessing  fails. 

From  the  predominance  of  mounds  in  these  struc- 
tures, their  unknown  architects,  long  since  extinct,  are 
called  the  Race  of  the  Mound  Builders.  They  left  no 
history  but  their  works.  The  Indians  who  lived  in 
the  last  two  hundred  years  knew  nothing,  and  say  the 
tribes  who  preceded  them  knew  nothing  of  them.  If 
we  would  learn  their  history  we  must  appeal  to  the 
works  themselves. 

The  study  that  has  been  bestowed  upon  them  is  not 
wholly  without  result.  What  I  have  to  say  of  their 
builders  will  be  grouped  under  the  following  heads: 
Where  did  they  live?  When  did  they  live?  How 
did  they  live?  Who  were  they?  What  became  of 
them  ? 

Upon  all  these  points,  except  the  last,  something  can 
be  said  that  is  not  pure  guess-work. 

WHAT    ARE    THE    WORKS  ? 

The  first  step  is  to  determine  what  are  the  works 
of  this  distinct  race — to  eliminate  mounds  thrown  up 
by  the  present  race  of  Indians.      The  groups  of  small 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Alound  Builders.         53 

mounds  about  four  feet  high  about  the  Minnesota 
river,  have  been  determined  to  be  mere  ruins  of  the 
earth-covered  huts  of  the  Iowas,  who  formerly  lived 
there.  Excavation  has  found  the  charred  remains  of 
the  tent-poles,  remnants  of  utensils,  and  sometimes  hu- 
man bones.  The  Choctaws  used  to  preserve  the  skel- 
etons of  the  dead,  until  they  became  numerous,  and 
then  lay  them  in  a  heap  on  the  ground,  and  cover  them 
with  earth,  making  a  small  mound.  The  numerous 
small  mounds  in  Oregon  are  similar  in  appearance,  and 
probably  in  character.  The  Sioux  sometimes  burv  a 
body  on  a  plain,  heap  billets  of  wood  over  the  place; 
and  the  dust  of  the  prairies,  mingling  with  the  decaying 
wood,  makes  a  small  hillock,  which  is  increased  by  the 
growth  of  rank  vegetation.  In  special  cases  mounds 
twelve  feet  high  have  been  erected  over  noteworthy 
graves,  as  over  the  grave  of  Blackbird,  the  Maha  chief, 
—as  related  by  Lewis  and  Clark  ;  and  one  over  a  young 
brave,  near  the  red  pipe-stone  quarry,  described  by  Cat- 
lin.  The  recently  deserted  villages  of  the  Ricarees  and 
Mandans,  on  the  Missouri,  were  described  by  Lewis 
and  Clark  as  being  distinguishable,  at  some  little  dis- 
tance, by  the  encircling  embankment,  which  had  been 
the  base  of  their  stockade  defense.  The  earthworks  in 
Central  and  Western  New  York,  which  were  at  first  at- 
tributed by  Squire  to  the  Mound  Builders,  have  been 
ascertained  by  his  subsequent  careful  examination  to  be 
partly  remains  of  the  stockaded  forts  used  by  the  Iro- 
quois last  century  and  the  present  century.  And  those 
that  are  shown  to  be  older,  by  the  heavy  forest  growths 
on  them,  are  identical  in  structure  and  size. 

The  small  earthworks  along    the  southern   shore  of 


••• 


54        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

Lake  Erie,  all  having  a  military  character,  were  first  ob- 
served by  Colonel  Whittlesey  to  differ  from  the  impor- 
tant works  in  Southern  Ohio,  in  being  smaller,  simpler, 
and  having  less  elevation.  The  embankment  is  so 
slight  that  it  would  be  useless  as  a  defense,  and  could 
have  been  useful  only  as  the  base  of  a  stockade.  These 
might  have  been  small  frontier  outposts  of  the  mound 
builders,  or  might  have  been  the  stronghold  of  some 
Indian  tribe,  like  the  Eries,  who  lived  there  till  they 
were  exterminated,  about  1650,  by  the  Iroquois.  The 
small  mounds  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky,  that  are 
found  to  be  full  of  human  bones,  might  possibly  be  the 
work  of  Indian  tribes,  who  buried  their  dead  in  the 
manner  of  the  Choctaws. 

Discarding  these,  the  territory  occupied  by  works 
which  could  not  have  been  built  bv  Indian  tribes,  such. 
as  we  know,  is  well  defined.  At  the  south  they  begin 
in  Eastern  Texas,  and  extend  eastward  to  the  Atlantic. 
Between  the  western  border  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Alleghanies  they  extend  northward  to  the  Ohio  Valley, 
north  of  the  river,  and  up  into  Wisconsin;  and, 
sparsely,  across  the  Mississippi  into  Minnesota.  They 
are  found,  also,  on  the  upper  Missouri. 

Lewis  and  Clark  describe  an  important  work  on  the 
bank  of  the  Missouri,  where  the  northern  boundary  of 
Nebraska  now  lies  ;  and  A.  Barrand,  in  a  paper  in  the 
Smithsonian  octavo  for  1870,  describes  many  in  Dakota 
Territory  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Missouri,  and  the 
streams  flowing  into  it,  up  to  the  Yellowstone.  The 
main  locality  is,  therefore,  between  the  western  borders 
of  the  Mississippi  river  and  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 
The  works  are  not  of  uniform   character  throughout 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         55 


this  region.  In  the  southern  tier  of  States  they  are,  for 
the  most  part,  large  truncated  mounds  and  raised  plat- 
forms of  earth,  generally  with  graded  ascents,  and  fre- 
quently in  groups. 

In  the  Gulf  States  there  are  but  few  works  of  a  mili- 
tary character.  They  are  scarcely  found  out  of  Georgia. 
One  in  Fayette,  in  Mississippi,  represented  by  figure  2, 
plate  xxxviii,  in  Squire  and  Davis'  work,  published  bv 
the  Smithsonian  Institute,  has  the  appearance  of  a 
European  work.  Its  outline  is  the  tracing  of  a  bastion 
of  a  regular  fortification.  The  account  mentions  the 
freshness  of  its  appearance,  and  the  still  preserved 
sharpness  of  the  angles.  Now,  in  the  French  campaign 
against  the  Chickasaws  in  May,  1736,  D'Artaguette  re- 
mained eleven  days  in  a  camp  in  that  neighborhood 
while  waiting  to  hear  of  Bienville,  and  then,  leaving  his 
baggage  in  the  camp,  marched  out  to  attack  the  nearest 
Chickasaw  village.  I  am  inclined  to  consider  this  work 
an  intrenchment  about  D'Artaguette's  camp.  But  if  the 
position  of  this  camp  was,  as  stated  in  Pickett's  His- 
tory of  Alabama,  a  few  miles  east  of  Pontotoc,  then  the 
work  is  in  just  about  the  position  where  Montcherval 
encamped  when-  coming  up  with  reinforcements.  In 
any  event,  this  work  appears  to  be  a  French  field  work 
of  their  campaign  of  1736,  not  a  work  of  the  Mound 
Builders. 

In  Georgia  are  several  works  of  a  military  character, 
described  by  Mr.  Jones  in  his  Antiquities  of  the  South- 
ern Indians.  All  but  one  near  Macon  are  unimpor- 
tant. And  on  the  Wateree,  in  South  Carolina,  are 
some  defensive  works. 

In  Tennessee,  besides  the  conical,  truncated,  and  ter- 


56        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 


race  mounds,  defensive  works  are  not  uncommon.  One 
of  them  at  Savannah,  on  the  Tennessee  river,  is  so  pe- 
culiar that  I  shall  speak  of  it  separately  at  the  close  of 
this  paper.  In  Kentucky,  fortifications  mingle  with  the 
simple  mounds.  In  Central  and  Southern  Ohio  every 
description  of  work  is  found,  some  of  them  peculiar  to 
this  section.  In  Indiana  and  Illinois  the  remains  are 
not  so  numerous,  but  the  one  at  Cahokia,  Illinois,  is  the 
giant  of  mounds.  In  Wisconsin  there  are  no  fortifica- 
tions ;  the  inclosed  work  at  Aztalan  is  not  of  a  mili- 
tary character.  Conical  mounds  are  found  ;  but  the  dis- 
tinctive feature  is  the  effigy  mounds  which  dot  the  sur- 
face of  the  State,  as  if  the  ancient  race  had  used  this 
region,  when  it  was  a  prairie,  as  a  vast  parchment 
whereon,  by  the  picture-writing  of  these  effigies,  they 
inscribed  their  history.  On  the  upper  Missouri  are 
found  conical  mounds  and  fortifications. 

The  northern  portion  of  the  region  inhabited  by  the 
Mound  Builders  is,  therefore,  the  fortified  region.  The 
works  of  defense  are  found  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
Ohio,  along  the  upper  Missouri,  and  on  the  frontier 
between  the  Allecrhanies  and  the  ocean. 

o 
WHEN     DID    THEY    LIVE? 

As  to  the  time  when  the  Mound  Builders  lived,  there 
has  been  much  discussion.  From  the  fact  that  in  the 
Ohio  Valley  these  works  are  not  observed  in  the  lowest 
or  last-formed  river-bottoms,  but  qrily  on  the  second 
and  higher  lands,  the  deduction  has  been  drawn  that 
they  lived  before  the  rivers  had  cut  their  present  chan- 
nels— before  the  lowest  alluvium  was  formed.  But  in 
one   case,    at  least — in    the   works  at    Portsmouth — the 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         57 

lines  of  embankment  were  carried  on  to  the  lowest  bot- 
tom, down  to  the  river  bank.  Colonel  Whittlesey 
wrote  to  me  that  high  water  sometimes  flowed  against 
and  along  these  embankments.  And  at  Piqua,  while 
most  of  the  works  are  on  the  second  and  third  terraces, 
a  portion — a  walled  avenue,  or  covered  way — extended 
to  the  very  water's  edge.  In  general,  the  works  are 
found  just  where  people  build  now,  on  ground  above 
the  reach  of  freshets,  leaving  the  lower  ground  for  till- 
age. Moreover,  all  the  bones  found  in  the  mounds 
belong  to  animals  that  lived  in  Ohio  when,  it  was  first 
visited  by  Europeans. 

In  the  South,  where,  however,  the  rivers  have  not 
the  same  geological  history,  large  works  are  found  on 
the  river  banks.  The  great  mound  on  the  Etowah 
stands  on  the  river  bottom  surrounded  by  a  ditch, 
through  which  water  flowed  at  high  stages  of  the  river. 
One  of  the  mounds  on  the  Wateree,  in  South  Carolina, 
stands  on  land  subject  to  overflow.  And  Bartram  con- 
jectured that  a  series  of  works  which  he  discovered  on 
the  Savannah,  were  built  as  places  of  refuge  in  times  of 
high  water.  The  indications,  therefore,  are,  that  when 
the  Mound  Builders  lived,  the  river  channels  and  river 
bottoms  were  already  formed  as  they  now  are. 

Another  theory  has  been  recently  started  to  prove  an 
extreme  antiquity  for  the  mounds.  The  Cincinnati 
Medical  News,  for  January  of  this  year,  gives  a  resume 
of  a  paper  read  by  J.  W.  Foster,  LL.  D.,  before  the 
Dubuque  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for 
Science.  He  speaks  of  finding  "three  frontal  bones  in 
the  Kennicott  mound,  near  Chicago,  the  only  part  of 
the  skeletons  capable  of  preservation.      The  plates  were 


58         Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

extraordinarily  thick  ;  the  superciliary  arches  were  mas- 
sive, standing  out  like  ropes  ;  the  frontal  bones  of 
great  strength  and  sloping  backward,  encroaching  on' 
the  parietals,  and  giving  origin  to  a  low  forehead." 
Assuming  these  skulls  to  have  belonged  to  Mound 
Builders,  that  this  was  the  natural  shape,  and  that  these 
were  typical  skulls,  he  inferred  that  the  Mound  Build- 
ers differed  in  their  physical  structure  from  the  Indians, 
and  were  a  race  of  low  intellect,  but  mild,  inoffensive, 
easily  held  in  subjection,  and  easily  conquered. 

The  abstract  of  this  paper,  as  given  in  the  Cincinnati 
Medical  News,  does  not  state  in  what  part  of  the 
mound  these  skulls  were  found.  Yet,  as  the  Indians 
frequently  buried  their  dead  in  existing  mounds,  it  is 
always  a  matter  of  first  importance  to  know  whether  ob- 
jects found  in  these  structures  were  placed  there  by  the 
original  builders,  or  were  subsequently  inserted  by  a 
disturbance  of  the  surface. 

A  skeleton  found  on  the  natural  surface  of  the 
ground,  or  near  it,  under  the  centre  ofa  mound,can  be 
taken  as  an  original  interment  ;  while  one  found  near 
the  surface,  on  the.  sloping  sides,  must  be  considered  a 
subsequent  intrusion,  a  burial  by  the  Indians. 

Very  few  skulls  that  can  be  certainly  attributed  to  the 
Mound  Builders  have  been  found  which  did  not  crum- 
ble on  being  taken  out.  It  is  only  when  the  character 
of  the  soil  or  the  circumstances  of  the  interment  have 
kept  the  bones  thoroughly  dry  that  any  such  have  been 
found.  Lapham  says  that  only  one  such  has  been  re- 
covered in  Wisconsin.  All  skulls  now  preserved  that 
indubitally  belong  to  the  Mound  Builders,  and  all  that 
are   with   strong    probability  referred  to   them,  are   well 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         59 

developed,  well  rounded.  The  best  authenticated  of 
all,  the  one  discovered  by  Squire  and  Davis,  and  now 
No.  1,512  in  the  collection  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Science  of  Philadelphia,  is  the  largest  and  best  formed. 
It  has  an  internal  capacity  of  ninety  cubic  inches. 

The  "frontal  bones"  of  the  Kennicott  mound  may 
have  another  origin.  The  custom  of  flattening  the 
forehead  was  common  to  many  Indian  tribes.  It  was 
the  usage  of  the  Choctaws  one  hundred  years  ago,  and 
fifty  years  earlier,  Du  Pratz  says  iJ:  was  the  practice  of 
many  tribes  in  the  South.  No.  1,455,  ln  tne  Philadel- 
phia collection,  a  skull  artificially  flattened,  was  taken 
from  an  intrusive  burial  in  a  mound  in  Alabama,  on 
the  shore  of  Perdido  Bay.  The  mound  is  thirty  feet 
high.  The  skull  was  found  near  the  summit,  and  a  few 
feet  under  the  surface. 

So  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  abstract  of  Dr.  Foster's 
paper,  therefore,  the  deduction  that  the  frontal  bones 
which  he  describes  are  remains  of  the  Mound  Builders 
at  all  is  hasty.  The  assumption  that  thev  represent 
the  normal  tvpe  of  the  skull  is  wholly  unwarranted,  and 
in  conflict  with  established  facts.  If  they  really  are  re- 
mains of  the  Mound  Builders,  the  inference  would  be 
that  they  were  an  abnormal  formation,  a  deformity,  or 
else  that  some  of  the  Mound  Builders,  like  some  of  the 
later  Indians,  adopted  the  usage  of  flattening  the  skull. 
Indeed,  in  the  recently  published  Antiquities  of  South- 
ern Indians,  by  C.  C.  Jones,  there  is  an  account  of  a 
skull  found  in  Georgia  which  undoubtedly  belonged  to 
the  Mound  Builders,  which  is  artificially  flattened.* 

*Artilicial  compression  was  not  the  cause.     Dr.  Foster  says, 
in  his  very  valuable  work,  the  "Prehistoric  Races  of  the  United 


60        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

Another  ground  on  which  the  great  antiquity  of  the 
mounds  is  supported,  is  the  absence  of  tradition  con- 
cerning them  among  the  Indians.  But  it  is  only  fair 
to  remember  that  their  traditions  are  mostly  worthless; 
that  at  best  they  extend  back  but  a  short  period  ;  and 
that  the  Indians  were  migratory.      Ohio,  Kentucky,  and 

States,"  published  since  this  paper  was  read,  that  he  has  but  one 
skull  showing  signs  of  artificial  compression,  and  that  was  found 
in  Indiana.  He  claims  in  this  book  to  have  discovered  a  special 
type  of  crania,  which  he  calls  the  skull  of  the  Mound  Builder:  a 
type  so  distinct  that  it  must  have  belonged  to  a  wholly  distinct 
race  ;  a  type  so  degraded  that  it  must  have  belonged  to  a  very 
early  stage  in  the  development  of  man. 

This  theory  is  based  upon  nearly  a  dozen  skulls  and  fragments 
in  his  possession.  Four  of  them  were  taken  by  Dr.  Harper  from 
the  works  near  Merom,  Indiana  ;  one  came  from  a  mound  at 
Dunleith,  Illinois,  opposite  Dubuque  ;  the  rest  were  found  near 
Chicago. 

The  statement  as  to  these  remains  would  be  more  satisfactory 
if  it  were  more  definite  as  to  the  precise  condition  in  which  they 
were  found.  It  appears  from  Mr.  Putnam's  paper  in  the  fifteenth 
volume  '*  Proceedings  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History," 
that  besides  the  mounds,  there  are,  at  Merom,  also  some  stone 
graves,  made  by  placing  thin  slabs  on  edge  along  the  sides  and 
ends,  and  covering  with  fiat  stones;  and  that  Dr.  Hai per  took 
three  skeletons  from  these  stone  graves.  Now,  graves  of  this 
form  are  not  uncommon  near  the  Ohio,  Cumberland,  and  Ten- 
nessee rivers.  But  this  form  of  burial  is  so  unlike  the  mound 
burial  that  it  seems  to  be  the  usage  of  a  people  different  from  the 
nation  that  constructed  the  mounds.  And  not  only  different,  but 
also  more  recent.  For,  as  a  rule,  the  skeletons  found  in  these 
superficial,  slightly  covered  graves  are  in  much  better  preserva- 
tion than  those  buried  under  the  mounds.  Moreover,  skeletons 
in  some  of  these  graves,  in  those  near  Nashville,  bear  marks  of  a 
disease  introduced  by  the  whites  (Jones'  Antiquities  of  Southern 
Indians,  p.  222).     And,  in  fine,  the  Indians   used   this  mode  of 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         61 

Middle  Tennessee  were  wholly  uninhabited  in  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Though  it  is  com- 
monly stated  that  De  Soto  visited  the  Cherokees,  I  do 
not  find  the  statement  supported  by  the  original  nar- 
ratives of  De  Soto's  expedition.  The  Creeks  and  Ala- 
bamas   arrived    in    the    Southern    States   later   than    De 


burial  down  to  the  present  century,  in  Illinois  (lb.,  p.  220).  It 
would,  therefore,  be  of  some  interest  to  know  whether  the  skulls 
from  Merom,  described  by  Dr.  Foster,  were  taken  from  the 
mounds,  or  were  those  taken  from  the  stone  graves. 

The  skulls  and  fragments  found  near  Chicago  were  dug  from 
little  mounds — the  loam  of  the  prairie  heaped  up  two  and  a  half 
feet  high.  The  Indians  sometimes  heaped  such  mounds  over 
their  dead.  And  Dr.  Foster  indeed  says,  that  some  of  these 
very  mounds  were  the  burying-places  of  Indians  and  half-breeds. 

As  for  the  skull  found  at  Dunleith,  three  were  taken  from  a 
mound  there  twelve  feet  high.  Of  two,  we  have  no  information. 
The  third,  the  one  described  by  Dr.  Foster,  was  buried  two  feet 
under  the  surface,  in  a  grave  made  of  wood  and  stone.  This 
was  obviously  not  an  original,  but  an  intrusive  interment ;  and 
therefore,  according  to  all  accepted  inference,  was  the  grave,  not 
of  a  Mound  Builder,  but  of  a  modern  Indian. 

There  is  nothing  in  Dr.  Foster's  statement,  therefore,  that 
shows  these  crania  to  be  relics  of  the  Mound  Builders  ;  and  their 
form,  as  he  describes  it,  is  the  form  of  the  skull  of  an  Indian  idiot. 

Other  investigators  have  been  very  careful  in  determining  the 
character  of  interments.  Squire  and  Davis,  in  all  their  re- 
searches, found  but  one  preserved  skull  which  they  could  say  was 
certainly  that  of  a  Mound  Builder.  This  was  found  on  the  nat- 
ural surface  of  the  ground,  under  the  centre  of  a  mound  that  was 
covered  by  the  primitive  forest,  one  of  the  Chillicothe  system  of 
mounds.  The  skeleton  was  surrounded  by  burnt  debris,  covered 
by  a  sheet  of  mica,  and  the  soil  of  the  mound  was  clay,  impervi- 
ous to  water,  and  had  evidently  not  been  disturbed.  Dr.  Lap- 
ham,  in  his  exhaustive  examination  of  the  mounds  of  Wisconsin, 
found  only  one  skull  which,  by  similar  indications,  he  could  cer- 


62         Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 


Soto's  time.  The  absence  of  tradition  among  the  In- 
dians,  therefore,  does  not  prove  much  ;  and  the  In- 
dians whom  De  Soto  found,  used  the  truncated  mounds 
so  habitually  as  an  elevated  base  for  the  dwellings  of 
the  chiefs,  that  it  was  taken  for  granted  they  were  the 
work  of  the  Indians.  Indeed,  one  of  the  narrators, 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  describes  their  manner  of  con- 
structing them. 

But  some  indication  of  the  age  of  these  monuments 
is  afforded  by  the  forest  growth  which  covers  them. 
Dr.  Hildreth  said  a  tree  eight  hundred  years  old  was 
felled  on  one  of  the  mounds  at  Marietta.  Squire  and 
Davis  say  trees  six  hundred  years  old  stood  on  the  fort 
on  Paint  creek,  west  of  Chillicothe.  Mr.  Barrandt 
says  he  observed  a  tree  six  hundred  years  old  upon  one 


tainly  attribute  to  the  people  that  constructed  the  mounds. 
Another,  found  in  Tennessee,  was  determined  by  similar  proof. 
Another  was  taken  from  a  chamber  in  the  centre  of  the  Grave 
Creek  mound. 

These  completed  the  list  of  certainly  authenticated  Mound 
Builders'  skulls.  As  to  these,  Dr.  Foster  simply  says  they  are 
not  like  the  type  that  he  calls  the  Mound  Builders'  skull,  but  re- 
semble the  crania  of  Indians,  and  therefore  are  not  of  the  Mound 
Builders  But  Mr.  Jones,  in  Georgia,  has,  with  the  same  exacti- 
tude, identified  one' more  skull  (Antiquities  of  Southern  Indians, 
p.  1 60),  and  to  this  Dr.  Foster  will  have  to  make  the  same  ob- 
jection. And  Dr.  Jeffreys  Wyman,  of  Harvard,  as  cited  in  Dr. 
Foster's  book,  speaking  of  twenty-four  crania  sent  to  him  by  the 
late  S.  S.  Lyon,  of  Kentucky,  as  skulls  of  the  Mound  Builders, 
says,  "  A  comparison  of  these  crania  with  those  of  the  other  and 
later  Indians,  show  that  they  have  some  marked  peculiarities, 
though  they  are  better  appreciated  when  the  two  kinds  are  placed 
side  by  side,  than  from  any  table  of  measurement  or  verbal  de- 
scription." 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.        63 

of  the  works   upon   the  upper  Missouri.      These  are,  I 
believe,  the  oldest  that  have  been  observed. 

Many  two  hundred  and  four  hundred  years  have 
been  noted.  In  many  cases  the  forest  appears  more  re- 
cent. Judge  A.  H.  Dunlevy,  of  Lebanon,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Historical  Society  in  this  city,  said  that  he  had 
noted  in  the  woods  upon  Fort  Ancient  an  entire  ab- 
sence of  the  little  hillocks,  formed  by  earth  about  the 
roots  of  a  tree  that  is  blown  down  and  uprooted. 
When  the  tree  decays,  the  uprooted  soil  forms  a  knob 
or  hillock,  and  such  are  always  seen  in  old  forests. 
From  their  absence  he  infers  that  the  woods  upon  Fort 
Ancient  are  the  original  growth.  Professor  Lapham 
made  the  same  observation,  and  drew  the  same  inference 
as  to  forest  growth  covering  a  great  part  of  the  remains 
in  Wisconsin.  The  very  aged  trees,  six  hundred  or 
more  years  old,  found  on  some  mounds  are,  then,  prob- 
ably the  survivors  of  the  original  forest  growth  on 
those  mounds,  and  had  attained  respectable  maturity 
while  other  mounds  were  still  bare.  No  lone  interval 
would  elapse  after  the  abandonment  of  the  earthworks 
before  trees  would  spring  up.  Making  full  allowance 
for  this  interval,  and  for  the  growth  and  disappearance 
of  preliminary  weeds  and  shrubs,  the  forest  growth 
does  not  indicate  an  abandonment  of  any  of  the  mounds 
at  a  period  more  remote  than  a  thousand  years,  and 
many  of  them  may  have  been  occupied  or  used  by  their 
builders  up  to  a  much  later  date.  The  extinction  or 
disappearance  of  the  Mound  Builders  may,  therefore, 
reasonably  be  said  to  have  begun  about  a  thousand 
years  ago,  and  to  have  been  gradual,  and  not  to  have 
been  completed  until  near  the  discovery  of  the  conti- 
nent by  Columbus. 


64        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 


HOW    THEY    LIVED. 

In  considering  next  how  the  Mound  Builders  lived,  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this  race  constituted  one  na- 
tion, or  one  empire.  There  is  no  greater  similarity  in 
their  works,  as  found  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
than  in  the  habits  of  the  multitudinous  Indian  tribes 
that  subsequently  inhabited  the  same  region.  Indeed, 
it  may  be  that  several  distinct  tribes  dwelt  in  this  State. 
One  tolerably  compact  body  filled  the  valleys  of  the  two 
Miamis  and  Mad  River.  Another  compact  body  filled 
the  Scioto  Valley.  The  country  between  seems  not  to 
have  been  inhabited,  but  only  roved  over  by  hunters. 
Moreover,  the  extensive  and  complex  works,  of  geomet- 
rical design,  that  abound  in  the  Scioto  Valley,  are  scarcely 
found  on  the  Miamis.  The  indications,  therefore,  are 
that  these  valleys  were  the  homes  of  two  separate  tribes. 

The  race  of  Mound  Builders  must  have  been  a  nu- 
merous people.  While  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Iowa  seem 
to  have  been  sparsely  settled  by  them,  the  rest  of  the 
country  must  have  been  thickly  peopled  along  the 
rivers.  In  Ohio,  for  example,  they  had  large  settle- 
ments on  the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati,  Portsmouth,  and 
Marietta.  On  the  Scioto,  besides  Portsmouth,  at  Chil- 
locothe  and  Circleville.  In  the  interior  were  large  set- 
tlements in  the  neighborhood  of  Athens,  Worthington, 
Xenia,  Springfield,  Dayton,  Miamisburg,  Hamilton, 
Oxford,  and  Eaton.  In  this  county,  besides  their  chief 
town  at  Cincinnati,  they  lived  on  the  Little  Miami  at 
Columbia,  Plainville,  and  all  along  the  valley  from  be- 
low Newtown  to  above  Milford;  in  the  interior  of  the 
county  at  Norwood  and  Sharon  ;  on  the  Ohio  at  Sedams- 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         6$ 

villeand  Delhi;  and  on  the  Great  Miami  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  at  Cleves,  and  for  miles  along  its  banks 
about  Colerain. 

This  race  must  have  differed  in  character  and  mode 
of  gover-nment  from  the  modern  Indians.  The  con- 
struction  of  their  great  earthworks  required  a  species 
and  amount  of  labor  that  the  Indians  would  not  have 
submitted  to.  And  the  method  of  the  systems  of  works 
in  Ohio  is  quite  as  striking  as  the  character  of  any  sin- 
gle work. 

Along  the  Miami  rivers  are  dotted  small  mounds 
on  projecting  highlands,  which  seem  to  have  been  built 
to  carry  intelligence  by  signals  along  the  valleys.  And 
by  the  mound  at  Norwood,  signals  could  be  passed  from 
the  valley  of  Millcreek  to  the  Little  Miami  Valley,  near 
Newtown,  and,  I  believe,  to  the  valley  of  the  Great 
Miami,  near  Hamilton.  A  chain  of  mounds  can  be  par- 
tially traced  from  the  old  Cincinnati  mound  to  the  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  ;  and  Judge  Cox,  who 
is  better  acquainted  than  any  one  else  with  the  works  in 
this  country,  says  the  chain  is  complete.  Squireand  Davis 
says  there  is  a  series  of  signal  mounds  along  the  Scioto, 
across  Ross  county,  extending  down  into  Pike  and  Pick- 
away. Mr.  Sullivant,  of  Columbus,  told  me  that  he 
once  traced  a  series  of  signal  mounds  along  the  Scioto, 
from  Dublin,  entirely  across  Franklin  county,  to  Picka- 
way ;  and  added  he  had  no  doubt,  though  he  had  not 
verified  it  by  his  own  observations,  that  the  chain  was 
so  continuous  that  a  signal  could  be  instantaneously 
flashed  from  the  lines  of  Delaware  county  to  Ports- 
mouth.  The  controlled  labor  required  to  build  the  sep- 
arate works,  and  their  systematic  combination,  seem  to 


66       Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

indicate  that  these  tribes  had  a  strongly  centralized,  if 
not  despotic,  government. 

Living,  as  they  did,  in  great  numbers  exclusively 
along  the  rich  river  valleys,  this  race  must  have  been  an 
agricultural  people.  There  are  no  traces  of  their  having 
had  any  domestic  animals  ;  but  bones  in  some  of  the 
mounds  show  that  they  hunted  game. 

They  had  some  engineering  skill.  The  extensive 
works  of  geometrical  outline,  in  the  Scioto  Valley, 
squares,  octagons,  circles,  ellipses,  often  combined  to- 
gether, are  executed  with  such  precision  that  they  must 
have  had  some  means  of  measuring  angles.  It  would 
be  no  mean  task  for  our  engineers  to  construct  them  on 
such  a  scale  with  equal  exactitude.  And  the  number  of 
the  squares  that  measure  exactly  one  thousand  and 
eighty  feet  on  each  side  show  that  they  had  some  stand- 
ard of  measurement. 

Their  dwellings  have  disappeared,  leaving  no  trace, 
unless  the  flat  mounds  with  graded  ascents,  as  at  Mari- 
etta, were  platforms  whereon  stood  a  temple  and  the 
chief's  house,  as  like  mounds  were  used  in  the  South 
three  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  ;  and  unless  the  small 
circular  embankments  are  the  crumbled  remains  of  mud 
walls  surrounding  dwellings  of  the  people,  like  the  huts 
of  the  Mandans  in  the  Northwest. 

Their  pottery  was  superior  in  manufacture  and  in 
tasteful  design  to  the  ordinary  pottery  of  the  Indians. 

Their  stone  pipes,  even  of  the  simplest  form,  like  the 
one  in  the  Historical  Society  collection  in  this  city,  has 
a  certain  artistic  feeling  which  is  lacking  in  the  pipes  of 
the  modern  Indian.  Some  of  those  found  by  Squire  and 
Davis   have  very  spirited   representations  of  birds  and 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         67 

animals  carved  in  hard  stone.  They  carved  many  stone 
implements  or  ornaments,  the  purpose  of  which  can  not 
now  be  determined.  Considerable  skill  was  used  in  the 
drilling  of  tubes  of  hard  stone.  Their  stone  hatchets, 
axes,  arrow-heads  and  lance-heads  were  of  the  same 
character  with  those  of  the  Indians.  I  have  not  been 
able  to  learn  that  there  is  any  means  of  distinguishing 
between  them  ;  but  in  looking  over  the  large  collection 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  it  appeared  to  me  that 
those  found  in  the  region  where  the  Mound  Builders 
lived  were  in  general  of  more  elaborate  design  and  more 
careful  finish  than  those  found  in  the  Atlantic  States, 
north  of  South  Carolina. 

They  made  a  limited  use  of  metals.  They  had,  how- 
ever, no  knowledge  of  the  reduction  of  ores,  or  of  melt- 
ing and  casting  metal.  They  used  hematite  simply  as  a 
hard  stone,  and  native  copper  and  silver  as  a  malleable 
stone.  Of  hematite,  they  made  small  wedges  or  chisels, 
and  plummets,  that  some  suppose  were  used  in  weaving. 
Native  copper  from  Lake  Superior  was  hammered  into 
hatchets,  spear-heads,  knives,  and  into  various  rude  or- 
naments. Native  silver,  also,  probably  from  Lake  Su- 
perior, has  been  found  in  extremely  small  quantities, 
hammered  into  leaf  and  wrapped  around  small  copper 
ornaments. 

A  few  traces  of  coarse  woven  cloth  have  been  sup- 
posed to  be  discovered. 

Though  these  people  had  nothing  amounting  to  com- 
merce, still  there  was  a  certain  amount  of  enterprise,  and 
a  certain  amount  of  intercourse  among  the  tribes.  The 
copper  deposits  on  both  the  northern  and  southern 
shores  of  Lake  Superior  were  mined.      The  shafts  they 


68        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

opened,  the  rude  stone  hammers  they  used,  blocks  of 
copper  they  separated  from  the  mass  but  found  too 
heavy  to  be  removed,  remain  witnessess  of  their  toil. 
But  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior  were  not  inhabited. 
Hence  the  residents  of  Ohio  must  have  made  summer 
expeditions  even  to  the  north  shore  of  the  lake;  and  to 
make  a  summer  expedition  productive,  they  must  have 
gone  in  working  parties  of  some  size.  Possibly  the 
earthworks  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  were 
fortified  camps  of  these  parties.  That  the  crude  native 
copper  was  brought  to  Ohio,  and  then  hammered  into 
implements,  appears  from  the  fact  that  lumps  of  it  are 
found  in  mounds  and  under  the  soil.  The  implements 
so  made  found  their  way  to  distant  points.  They  are 
occasionally  found  in  Southern  mounds. 

At  the  same  time,  bits  of  obsidian,  very  few,  indeed, 
but  which  must  have  come  from  Mexico,  have  been 
found  in  Ohio.  And  some  of  the  pipes  found  by 
Squire  and  Davis  indicate  that  they  were  made  at  a  dis- 
tance, or  else  by  persons  who  had  traveled  :  for  one 
represents  a  seal  ;  another  a  manito,  which  inhabits  on  the 
coast  of  Florida;  and  one  represents  a  toucan  feeding 
from  a  hand,  and  the  toucan  was  mentioned  by  the  early 
Spanish  discoverers  as  the  only  bird  tamed  by  the  In- 
dians. 

In  fine,  the  Mound  Builders  appear  to  have  been  an 
agricultural  people,  as  well  as  hunters,  capable  of  patient 
toil,  living  under  a  strongly  centralized  or  despotic  gov- 
ernment, and  were  somewhat  more  advanced  than  the 
Indians,  who  succeeded  them,  in  the  rudiments  of  civil- 
ization. They  were  perhaps  on  a  level  with  the  Zuni 
or  Pueblo  Indians  of  Arizona. 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         69 


WHO    WERE    THEY  ? 

So  far,  I  have  spoken  of  the  Mound  Builders,  some- 
times as  distinguished  from  the  Indians,  sometimes  as 
distinguished  from  the  modern  Indians,  so  as  not  to 
foreclose  in  advance  the  discussion  of  the  question  which 
comes  next — who  were  they  ?  Since  comparative  phi- 
lology developed  into  science,  the  aboriginal  American 
dialects  have  been  subjected  to  exhaustive  study.  After 
a  discussion  lasting  many  years,  it  has  been  determined 
that  all  the  languages  and  dialects  between  the  Esqui- 
maux, on  the  north,  and  the  straits  of  Terra  del  Fuego 
on  the  South,  differ  whollv  from  the  languages  of  the 
other  continents  ;  and  that  while  they  differ  widely 
among  themselves  in  vocabulary,  some  not  having  a  sin- 
gle word  in  common  with  others,  they  still  have  all  the 
same  organism  or  character.  They  all  belong  to  one 
family,  have  a  common  origin.  As  the  formation  of  a 
single  language  is  a  matter  of  time,  the  multitudinous 
languages  found  among  the  Indians  of  North  and  South 
America  prove  that  this  family  has  lived  here  for  a  very 
long  period. 

The  study  of  the  physical  structure,  as  exhibited 
by  their  skeletons,  has  ended  in  the  same  result. 
The  skulls  of  all  nations  south  of  the  Esquimaux, 
ancient  and  modern — Patagonian,  Peruvian,  Aztec, 
Mound  Builders,  and  the  Indian  of  the  present  day 
— are  said  by  Morton  (and  his  views,  though  ably  ques- 
tioned by  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Toronto,  are  generally  accep- 
ted) to  present  the  same  type,  to  constitute  one  family. 
Though  occasional  natives  of  other  continents  may  in 
the  lapse  of  years  have  drifted  to  the  shores  of  America, 
they  left  no  trace  in  the  language  or  the  physical   struc- 


70        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 


ture  of  its  inhabitants.  The  aborigines  of  America 
may  therefore  be  considered,  at  least  for  the  purposes  of 
history  and  archaeology,  as  an  autocthoneous  people; 
and  whatever  civilization  appeared  before  the  discovery 
of  Columbus,  was  indigenous  civilization.  The  Mound 
Builders,  therefore,  were  natives  to  the  soil,  and  what- 
ever advancement  they  made  was  their  own  invention, 
or  was  imparted   to  them  by  neighboring  natives. 

Indeed,  while  the  Mound  Builders  may  have  resem- 
bled the  Aztecs  and  the  Peruvians  in  their  form  of  gov- 
ernment ;  yet  in  material  advancement  they  differed 
much  more  widely  from  them  and  the  extinct  races  of 
Central  America,  than  from  any  of  the  Indian  tribes  that 
were  found  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  Sioux  and  Cheyennes,  the  Comanches  and 
Apaches,  and  other  wandering  tribes  of  the  West,  do 
not  represent  the  mode  of  life  of  the  Indians  that  lived 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  De  Soto  and  his  companions 
were  struck  with  the  novelty,  when,  in  Arkansas  or  Mis- 
souri, they  first  encountered  a  tribe  without  fixed  habi- 
tations, living  in  movable  tents,  and  subsisting  wholly 
by  hunting  and  fishing.  All  the  tribes  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi were  more  or  less  agricultural.  They  all  raised 
corn,  beans,  squashes,  and  melons.  They  pitched  their 
camps  and  planted  their  villages  on  the  borders  of  a 
stream.  Many  had  permanent  towns.  When  the  French 
first  landed  at  Montreal  Island,  they  found  Hocklehaaa, 
an  Indian  town,  fortified  with  a  permanent  palisade. 
The  Iroquois  had  their  villages,  with  corn-fields  and  or- 
chards. The  Cherokees  and  Creeks  had  fixed  settle- 
ments of  roomy,  substantial  houses.  The  Creeks  had 
in  each   town  an   open   public  square,  surrounded  with 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.        71 

their  public  buildings.  The  council-house  of  the  Autose, 
or  Snake  tribe  of  the  Creeks,  was  supported  on  columns 
carved  to  represent  serpents,  and  the  walls  decorated 
with  rude  paintings.  The  town  of  the  Uchees,  the  rem- 
nant of  a  tribe  which  the  Creeks  found  in  Georgia, 
when  they  arrived,  and  which  they  adopted  into  their 
confederacy,  is  described  by  Bartram,  in  1773,  as  "  tne 
largest,  most  compact,  and  best  situated  Indian  town  I 
ever  saw  :  the  habitations  are  large  and  neatly  built;  the 
walls  of  the  houses  are  constructedof  a  wooden  frame, then 
lathed  and  plastered  inside  and  out  with  a  reddish,  well- 
tempered  clay,  or  mortar,  which  gives  them  the  appear- 
ance of  red  brick  walls,  and  these  houses  are  neatly  cov- 
ered or  footed  with  cypress  bark,  or  the  shingles  of  that 
tree. 

Carver,  exploring  the  Northwest,  in  1766,  described 
the  town  of  the  Sankies  (Sacs)  as  "  the  largest  and  best 
built  Indian  town  he  ever  saw.  It  contained  about 
ninety  houses,  each  large  enough  for  several  families, 
built  up  of  hewn  plank  neatly  jointed,  and  covered  so 
compactly  with  bark  as  to  keep  out  the  most  penetrating 
rains.  Before  the  doors  were  placed  comfortable  sheds 
in  which  the  inhabitants  sat,  when  the  weather  would 
permit,  and  smoked  their  pipes.  The  streets  were  both 
regular  and  spacious,  appearing  more  like  a  civilized 
town  than  the  abode  of  savages." 

Though  it  was  not  common,  except  in  the  South,  to 
have  their  towns  permanently  fortified,  it  was  common 
to  intrench  themselves,  in  time  of  war,  with  stockade 
defenses. 

In  some  respects  the  Mound  Builders  and  the  modern 
Indians  were  alike.      I  have  already  said  there  is  no  rec- 


j  2        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

ognized  difference  between  the  stone  implements  of  the 
two.  Both  were  great  smokers,  and  lavished  all  their 
artistic  skill  in  carving  and  beautifying  their  pipes.  The 
Mound  Builders  appear  to  have  kept  their  infants 
strapped  to  boards,  as  the  Indians  do.  This  inference 
was  drawn  by  Morton  and  by  Squire  from  the  flatness 
of  the  occiput  of  the  skull.  The  same  characteristic  is 
noted  by  Mr.  Jones  in  an  authentic  skull  recently  dis- 
interred in  Georgia.  They  appear  to  have  had  similar 
amusements.  The  Natchez,  Choctaws,  Cherokees,  and 
other  Southern  tribes,  and  also  the  Mandans,  in  the 
Northwest,  were  much  addicted  to  a  game  called  chungke 
by  the  Choctaws  and  Mandans,  and  nettecawaw  by  the 
Cherokees. 

The  game  was  played  with  disks  of  hard  stone,  that 
were  greatlv  prized  on  account  of  the  labor  required  to 
rub  such  hard  stone  into  the  required  shape.  These 
same  stone  disks,  called  bv  Squire  and  Davis  discoid 
stones,  were  used  by  the  Mound  Builders.  It  is,  how- 
ever, only  an  inference  that  they  were  used  for  the  same 
purpose. 

And  while  one  great  difference  between  the  Mound 
Builders  and  the  modern  Indians  is  that,  among  the 
former,  the  men  must  have  labored;  while  among  In- 
dians labor  is  left  to  the  squaws,  still  the  difference  was 
not  absolute.  For  the  Choctaws  worked  habitually  in 
their  corn-fields  with  the  squaws,  and  even  hired  them- 
selves out  to  the  French  as  laborers. 

WHAT    BECAME    OF    THEM. 

As  to  the  final  question,  what  became  of  the  Mound 
Builders,  little  can  be  said  beyond  conjecture.  Civiliza- 
tion, as  a  rule,  radiates  from  a  centre  ;    and  when,  from 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         73 

any  cause,  it  fades  out,  it  contracts  upon  the  centre. 
Now,  the  vast  stone  temples  and  palaces  of  Central 
America  are,  at  least,  as  old  as  the  mounds  of  the 
United  States.  Central  America  was,  then,  relatively 
the  birthplace  and  centre  of  aboriginal  American  civil- 
ization. The  influence  spread  northward  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Ohio  valleys. 

So  the  Mound  Builders  appear  to  have  receded  from 
the  lakes  to  the  South.  The  Ohio  Valley,  when  first 
discovered,  was  uninhabited.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  entire  region  from  Lake  Erie 
to  the  Tennessee  river  was  an  unpeopled  solitude. 
The  ancient  inhabitants  may  have  died  out  from  pesti- 
lence, or  natural  decay,  or  partly  from  some  such  custom 
as  prevailed  among  the  Natchez,  of  killing  all  the  at- 
tendants of  a  chief  upon  his  death.  But  it  is  more 
probable  they  were  driven  away. 

The  existing  remains  show  they  had,  north  of  the 
Ohio  river,  a  strong  line  of  fortresses,  along  the  Great 
Miami  from  its  mouth  to  Piqua,  with  advanced  works 
near  Oxford  and  Eaton,  and  with  a  massive  v^ork  in  rear 
of  this  line,  on  the  Little  Miami,  at  Fort  Ancient. 
There  was  another  line  crossing  the  Scioto  Valley  at 
Chillicothe,  and  extending  west  up  the  valley  of  Paint 
Creek.  These  seem  to  have  constituted  a  line  of  per- 
manent defense. 

The  situations  were  well  chosen,  were  naturally  very 
strong,  and  were  fortified  with  great  labor  and  some 
skill.  Such  works,  if  defended,  could  not  have  been 
taken  by  assault  by  any  means  tile  natives  possessed,  and 
they  were  so  constructed  as  to  contain  a  supply  of  water. 


74        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

They  would  not   be  abandoned   until   the  nations   that 
held  them  were  broken. 

When  these  were  abandoned,  there  was  no  retreat,  ex- 
cept across  the  Ohio.  South  of  the  Ohio,  in  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee,  there  are  many  works  of  defense,  but 
none  possessing  the  massive  character  of  permanent 
works  like  the  Ohio  system.  They  are,  comparatively, 
temporary  works,  thrown  up  for  an  exigency — are  more- 
over isolated,  not  forming,  as  in  Ohio,  a  connected  sys- 
tem. They  are  such  works  as  a  people  capable  of  put- 
ting up  the  Ohio  forts  might  erect,  while  being  gradually 
pushed  south,  and  fighting  an  invader  from  the  north 
or  northwest. 

South  of  the  Tennessee  river  the  indications  are  dif- 
ferent. We  miss  there  the  forts  that  speak  of  prolonged 
and  obstinate  conflict.  And  we  find  among  the  tribes, 
as  they  were  when  first  discovered,  lingering  traces  of 
what  we  have  called  characteristic  traits  of  the  Mound 
Builders.  The  Indian  tribes  there,  as  a  rule,  had  more 
substantial  dwellings  than  those  of  the  North ;  their 
towns  were  more  permanent  and  better  constructed;  it 
was  common  in  De  Soto's  time,  and  in  some  tribes  even 
two  hundred  years  later,  for  families  to  have  separate 
farms  ;  the  chiefs  were  treated  with  a  deference  which 
was  never  seen  among  Northern  Indians.  Among  the 
Natchez  so  late  as  1730  the  Great  Sun  was  absolute  de- 
spot ;  and  in  the  accounts  of  De  Soto's  expedition,  not 
only  the  romantic  narrative  of  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  but 
jn  the  more  sober  account  of  the  Portuguese  cavalier 
and  the  business  like  report  of  Biedma,  we  read  of 
chiefs  being  carried  in  canopied  litters  by  their  subjects; 
and  of  the  haughty  chief  Tuscalusa,  sitting  on  a  pile  of 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         75 

cushions,  with  officers  and  attendants  ranged  about,  and 
with  a  colored  shield  held  aloft  by  one  to  screen  him 
from  the  sun.  Some  tribes,  the  Natchez  and  Tensas, 
preserved  till  1730  their  temples  with  the  holy  perpetual 
fire.  In  De  Soto's  time  chiefs  commonly  had  their 
dwellings  on  the  summit  of  the  terraced  mounds;  and 
later  several  tribes  used  the  rectangular  inclosures,  like 
the  one  that  used  to  stand  about  where  Eighth  Street 
Park  now  is,  in  Cincinnati,  as  ground  for  playing  the 
game  chungke,  with  just  such  discoid  stones  as  are  tound 
among  the  relics  of  the  Mound  Builders. 

These  remaining  traces  of  the  former  population  in- 
dicate that  in  the  Southern  States  they  were  not  abso- 
lutely exterminated,  and  swept  off,  leaving  a  void  to  be 
filled  by  a  new  unmingled  race;  but  that  rather,  in  the 
interminable  wars  and  restless  emigrations  of  the  more 
recent  Indians,  the  less  warlike  Mound  Builders  grad- 
ually dwindled,  and  became  absorbed  in  their  conquerors. 
The  Iroquois,  pushing  their  conquering  expeditions  to 
Montreal  and  Mackinac,  to  North  Carolina  and  the 
Mississippi,  received  and  adopted  many  individuals 
from  tribes  they  overcame,  and  remnants  of  tribes  they 
had  substantially  exterminated.  The  Creeks,  moving 
from  their  original  home  in  the  far  West,  came  upon 
the  Alibamas  ;  drove  them  in  a  pursuit,  which  lasted 
many  years,  to  the  Mississippi,  across  it,  and  finally  into 
Alabama,  when  the  chase  ended,  and  the  subdued  rem- 
nant of  the  Alibamas  was  received  into  the  Creek  na- 
tion. The  Natchez,  after  receiving  remnants  of  several 
nearly  extinct  tribes,  were  so  nearly  exterminated  by  the 
French  that  the  few  remaining  families  fled  to  the  Chick- 
asaws  and  were  absorbed.      So   the    Mandans,  the  most 


y6        Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

civilized  tribe  of  the  Northwest,  dwindled  away  under 
the  continued  attacks  of  the  Sioux,  abandoned  village 
after  village,  shifted  their  homes,  till  there  is  now  but  a 
feeble  handful,  living  for  safety  with  another  tribe. 

While  the  Mound  Builders  probably  died  out  in  the 
South  thus  gradually,  and  became  absorbed  in  the  tribes 
that  overcame  them,  there  is  color  for  the  suggestion, 
often  made,  that  the  Natchez  may  have  been  a  true  rem- 
nant of  that  race.  They  stood  apart  from  other  tribes  by 
their  superiority  in  the  simple  arts  practiced  by  Indians. 
They  were  so  skillful  making  their  red-stained  pottery 
that  Du  Pratz  had  them  make  for  him  a  set  of  plates 
for  table  use.  But  they  were  more  distinguished  from 
the  others  by  their  rites  and  government.  They  and 
the  Tensas,  an  affiliated  tribe,  had  temples  where  guard- 
ians perpetually  preserved  the  holy  fire.  The  Great 
Sun,  their  head  chief,  had  absolute  authority,  and  his 
person  was  sacred.  They  had  an  hereditary  nobility. 
The  words  and  phrases  of  address  and  salutation  used 
toward  the  nobles,  were  wholly  different  from  those  used 
toward  the  common  people. 

The  temple  stood  on  a  flat  mound  eight  feet  high, 
having  a  graded  ascent.  And  at  the  annual  corn  feast 
a  flat  mound  two  feet  high  was  erected,  on  which  was 
built  a  house  for  the  Sun,  who  was  borne  two  miles  to 
it  in  a  litter  carried  by  his  subjects.  After  being  carried 
around  the  gathered  heap  of  corn,  he  alighted,  saluted 
the  grain,  commanded  his  subjects  to  eat,  and  then  it 
was  lawful  for  them  to  touch  it. 

When  they  fled  to  Louisiana,  in  1730,  they  sur- 
rounded themselves  with  a  fort.  Pickett,  in  his  his- 
tory  of    Alabama;    Squire,    in    his   Aboriginal   Monu- 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         77 

ments  of  New  York,  and  other  writers,  say  the  Natchez 
also  threw  up  mounds  here.  But  neither  Du  Pratz, 
Charlevoix,  Bossu,  nor  Dumont,  make  any  such  state- 
ment, and  I  have  not  access  to  any  other  cotemporary 
authority.  Monette  asserts  that  the  works  near  Trinity 
were  then  constructed  by  the  Natchez.  But  works  of 
such  magnitude  could  not  have  been  constructed  by  the 
Natchez  in  the  short  time  they  were  in  this,  their  last 
fastness. 

The  Natchez  claimed  that  in  former  days  they  had 
five  hundred  villages,  and  their  borders  stretched  to  the 
Ohio.  But  that  wars  and  a  devastating  pestilence  that 
broke  out  in  old  times,  when  a  drowsy  guardian  suffered 
the  holy  fire  to  go  out,  had  reduced  them.  To  these 
causes  Du  Pratz  added  their  custom  of  killing  the  at- 
tendants  of  a  chief  upon  the  chief's  death.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  the  Natchez  were  a  remnant  of  the  race 
that  constructed  the  mounds.  If  not,  they  must  have 
been  long  in  contact  with  that  race. 

Of  the  works  on  the  upper  Missouri,  except  the  one 
described  by  Lewis  and  Clark,  I  have  met  no  account, 
except  the  concise  statement  of  Mr.  Barrandt  of  his 
observations  in  1869  and  1870.  From  the  fact  that  he 
cut  down  a  tree  six  hundred  years  old,  growing  on  one 
of  them,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they  were  about 
cotemporaneous  with  the  works  in  Ohio.  A  specula- 
tion, but  a  mere  speculation,  may  be  ventured  as  to  the 
disappearance  of  their  builders. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  and  afterward  Catlin,  found  on  the 
upper  Missouri  three  small  neighboring  tribes,  who 
lived  in  towns  of  tolerably  substantial  and  quite  com- 
modious   mud    houses,    forming  villages   fortified   with 


•78         Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

stockade  and  ditch.  These  little  tribes  resided  in  their 
secure  villages,  raising  corn,  and  selling  it  to  Western 
tribes  for  pelfries,  which  they  sold  in  turn  to  the  East, 
and  venturing  out  only  short  distances  to  kill  buffalo; 
while  the  whole  region  else  was  occupied  by  roving 
tribes,  without  any  fixed  habitation,  and  living  wholly 
by  the  chase. 

Of  these  three  tribes — Rickarees,  Mandans,  and  Min- 
netarees — the  Rickarees  are  a  fragment  of  the  Pawnee 
nation  ;  the  Minnetarees  belong  to  the  Dakota  family; 
while  the  Mandans  have  no  affiliation  with  anv  other 
known  family.  Morton,  indeed,  says  they  belong  to 
the  Dakota  race,  while  De  Smet  says,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  belong  to  the  wholly  different  race,  the  great  Chip- 
peway  family  of  tribes.  Catlin,  however,  who  lived 
some  time  among  them,  says  their  language  has  no  af- 
finity with  any  other  he  was  acquainted  with  ;  that, 
being  a  mere  handful  of  a  tribe,  they  learned  to  speak 
the  language  of  other  tribes,  while  none  learned   theirs. 

The  Mandans  ever  since  they  were  first  known,  have 
enjoyed  a  reputation,  as  compared  with  their  neighbors, 
somewhat  like  that  of  the  Natchez  in  the  South.  They 
have  been  called  "  the  polite  and  friendly  Mandans," 
"  the  white  Indians."  Their  huts,  fifty  feet  in  diameter, 
are  described  by  Catlin  as  scrupulously  neat  ;  the  sepa- 
rate bedsteads  were  screened  off  by  curtains  of  dressed 
skins  ;  a  solid  stockade  and  ditch  defended  their  village, 
which  was  built  on  a  precipitous  bluff  projecting  into 
the  river.  They  made  a  great  variety  of  excellent  pot- 
tery, which  they  baked  in  kilns;  and  manufactured  a 
sort  of  iridescent  beads,  which  were  highly  prized  for 
ornament.      They  played  the  game  called  "  chungke"  as 


Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.        79 

it  was  played  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  in  the  South, 
and  called  it  by  the  same  name.  Ever  since  they  were 
first  known,  they  have  been  wasting  away  under  the  re- 
lentless hostility  of  the  Sioux,  and  are  now  almost 
wholly  extinct,  though  the  ruins  of  their  former  vil- 
lages can  be  seen  for  many  miles  along  the  river. 

It  is  stated  by  Catlin,  as  a  fact,  acknowledged  by  ail 
three  of  these  little  tribes,  that  the  Rickarees  and  Min- 
netarees  merely  adopted  the  habits  of  the  Mandans 
after  settling  in  their  neighborhood.  But  no  explana- 
tion has  been  given  of  the  source  whence  the  Mandans 
acquired  their  mode  of  life,  so  exceptional  in  that  re- 
gion. 

Catlin  suggests  that  they  are  descendants  of  the 
Mound  Builders  driven  from  Ohio.  But  there  is  noth- 
ing to  warrant  that ;  and  they  have  no  tradition  of  having 
come  from  any  remote  country.  If  we  must  make  them 
descendants  of  Mound  Builders,  we  need  not  go  away 
from  the  valley  of  the  upper  Missouri  for  an  ancestry. 
All  that  can  be  said,  and  that  is  mere  speculation,  is,  it  is 
possible  that  the  Mandans  are  a  lingering  remnant  of 
the  ancient  race  that  constructed  the  works  on  the  upper 
Missouri,  or  of  a  tribe  that  by  contact  with  that  race 
imbibed  some  of  its  modes  of  life. 

SOME    WORKS     IN    TENNESSEE. 

Before  closing  I  desire  to  sav  a  few  words  about  some 
works  near  Savannah,  Tenn.,  described  in  the  Smith- 
sonian octavo  for  1871,  by  J.  Parish  Stelle.  On  the 
river  bluff,  about  two  miles  below  Savannah,  is  a  group 
of  mounds  of  the  ordinary  type  ;  but  at  the  foot  of 
the  bluff,  in  the  swampy  land   between  it  and   the  river, 


80         Some  Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders. 

is  a  long  intrenchment,  not  wholly  obliterated.  At  reg- 
ular intervals,  the  tracing  of  this  intrenchment  projects 
to  the  front,  so  as  to  make  flank  defenses,  or  rudiment- 
ary bastions,  eighty  yards  apart.  On  the  edge  of  the 
town,  on  the  river  bluff",  is  another  group  of  mounds. 
This  group  of  mounds  is  inclosed  on  the  side  away  from 
the  river  by  a  double  line  of  intrenchment,  each  like  the 
one  just  described.  One  of  the  mounds,  eight  feet  high, 
stands  on  a  slope.  In  constructing  it  three  trenches 
were  first  dug  in  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  then 
arched  over  with  tempered  clay,  making  three  furnaces. 
Rows  of  upright  sticks  or  logs  appear  then  to  have  been 
placed  between  these  furnaces,  partly  for  the  purpose  of 
protecting  them  from  too  great  pressure.  The  mound 
was  then  made  by  throwing  on  earth.  But  flues  of  tem- 
pered clay  were  made,  some  extending  directly  up  to 
the  upper  surface  of  the  mound,  others  sinuously  wind- 
ing through  it,  so  as  to  convey  heat  to  every  part.  Logs 
of  green  wood  were  interspersed  thickly  through  the 
mound  and  bits  of  dry  wood  placed  about  them.  When 
the  mound  was  opened  all  the  wood  was  found  reduced 
to  charcoal,  and  the  whole  mound  baked  almost  to 
brick.  In  another  of  the  group  were  found  fragments 
of  burned  clay  flues  and  bits  of  charcoal.  The  first  has 
the  appearance  of  an  elaborately  constructed  charcoal 
pit,  from  which  the  charcoal  has  not  been  removed  ;  the 
other,  one  from  which  the  charcoal  had  been  taken.  A 
tree,  growing  on  one  of  the  mounds,  was  found  to  be 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  years  old.  The  other  mounds 
were  found  to  contain  some  bits  of  pottery  and  a  few 
stone  implements.  While  these  last  are  undoubtedly 
works  of  the  natives,  it  is  not  easy  to  believe  that  the  in- 


Some   Considerations  on  the  Mound  Builders.         81 


trenchments  and  charcoal  mound  were  not  made  by 
Europeans. 

De  Soto,  marching  north  across  Alabama,  reached  a 
river  which  he  crossed  in  boats  that  he  built,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1 540.  He  took  possession  of  the  little  Indian 
town  Chicaca,  and  went  into  winter-quarters.  The  In- 
dians made  a  sudden  night  attack,  set  fire  to  the  town, 
and  the  surprised  Spaniards  lost  everything.  De  Soto 
gathered  all  the  fragments  of  metal  from  the  ashes, 
moved  to  another  town  half  a  league  off,  and  there  tem- 
pered the  sword  blades  and  made  new  lances,  saddles, 
and  implements.  Herrera  says,  De  Soto  fortified  this 
camp  of  refuge. 

This  Chicaca  has  been  generally  supposed  to  have 
been  in  the  northern  part  of  the  present  State  of  Mis- 
sissippi. But  it  may  be  that  the  works  two  miles  below 
Savannah  mark  its  site,  while  the  group  on  the  edge  of 
the  town  of  Savannah,  including  the  charcoal  mound, 
mav  indicate  the  place  where  De  Soto  repaired  his 
armament. 


NOTES. 


A.  '•''Native  silver  ....  hammered  into  leaf,  and 
wrapped  around  small  copper  ornaments,  p.  67.  The  silver- 
coated  copper  bosses,  found  by  Dr.  Hiidreth  at  the  bottom  of  one 
of  the  Marietta  mounds,  and  now  in  the  college  museum  at  Ma- 
rietta, have  occasioned  much  perplexity.  Squire  says,  in  the 
appendix  to  his  "Aboriginal  Monuments  of  New  York  :"  "  These 
articles  have  been  critically  examined,  and  it  is  beyond  doubt  that 
the  copper  bosses  are  absolutely  plated^  not  simply  overlaid,  with 
silver.  Between  the  copper  and  the  silver  exists  a  connection, 
such  as,  it  seems  to  me,  could  only  be  produced  by  heat ;  and  if 
it  is  admitted  that  these  are  genuine  remains  of  the  mound-build- 
ers, it  must  at  the  same  time  be  admitted  that  they  possessed  the 
difficult  art  of  plating  one  metal  on  another." 

This  inference  may  not  be  necessary.  It  may  be  that  the  two 
metals  were  found  naturally  joined,  and  the  compound  fragments 
were  simply  hammered  into  shape.  Mr.  Cyrus  Mendenhall,  who 
spent  many  years  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  tells  me  that 
bits  of  native  silver  are  sometimes  found  joined  with  the  copper 
as  if  welded  to  it ;  and  that  the  miners  sometimes  hammer  out 
from  such  fragments  rings  that  have  all  the  appearance  of  copper 
rings  plated  with  silver. 

B.  Withdrawal  of  the  Natchez  to  Louisiana .  p.  77-  Not- 
withstanding the  amount  of  speculation  upon  the  flight  of  the 
Natchez  to  Louisiana,  the  locality  of  their  retreat  has  not  been 
fixed  and  determined.  And  yet  it  seems  susceptible  of  identifica- 
tion.    Du  Pratz  says  the  French  "  went  up  the  Red  River,  then 


84   .  Notes. 

the  Black  River,  and  from  thence  up  the  Bayouc  d'  Argent,  which 
communicates  with  a  small  lake  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
fort  which  the  Natchez  had  built." 

Now,  Mr.  Dunbar,  in  his  account  of  an  exploration  of  Black 
River  and  its  confluents,  communicated  by  President  Jefferson  to 
Congress,  along  with  the  report  of  Lewis  and  Clark's  expedition, 
says  the  Tensas,  one  of  the  confluents  of  the  Black,  "  communi- 
cates with  the  Mississippi  lowlands  by  the  intervention  of  other 
creeks  and  lakes,  and  by  one  in  particular,  called  Bayou  d' Argent, 
which  empties  into  the  Mississippi  about  fourteen  miles  above 
Natchez A  large  lake,  called  St.  John's  Lake,  occu- 
pies a  considerable  part  of  the  passage  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Tensas,  and  has  at  some  former  period  been  the  bed  of  the 
Mississippi." 

This  bayou  and  lake  can  be  seen  on  the  maps  of  Louisiana, 
between  the  parishes  of  Concordia  and  Tensas,  and  agree  with 
the  locality  inscribed  "  Natchez  destroyed  "  on  Du  Pratz's  map. 

The  fort  constructed  here  by  the  Natchez  was  undoubtedly  a 
palisade.  Charlevoix  simply  says  they  fortified  themselves.  Du 
Pratz  says  they  built  a  fort.  Dumont  says,  '"they  built  a  fort 
upon  the  model  of  the  one  from  which  they  had  been  driven" — 
and  that  was  a  palisade.  Dumont  further  says,  "  the  troops  pil- 
laged the  fort  and  set  fire  to  it." 

The  Natchez  were  not  actually  exterminated.  A  band  of  them, 
escaping,  crossed  the  country  to  the  Red  River  and  attacked  the 
French  fort  at  Natchitoches.  Charlevoix  says  that  here  "  they  in- 
trenched themselves."  Dumont  says  they  threw  up  an  intrench- 
ment — "  crenscrent  dans  la  plaine  line  cspcce  dc  retranchemcnt 
oil  its  sefortifierent."  So  far  for  contemporary  authority.  But 
Mr.  John  .Sibley,  in  a  letter  concerning  the  Southern  Indians,  dated 
Natchitoches,  April  5,  1S05,  and  which  letter  was  annexed  to 
Jefferson's  message  already  mentioned,  says :  'After  the  massa- 
cre of  the  French  inhabitants  of  Natchez,  by  the  Natchez  Indians, 


Notes.  85 

in  173S,  these  Indians  fled  from  the  French,  after  being  reinforced, 
and  came  up  Red  River,  and  camped  about  six  miles  below  the 
town  of  Natchitoches,  near  the  river,  by  the  side  of  a  small  lake 
of  clear  water,  and  erected  a  mound  of  considerable  size,  where 
it  now  remains  " 

This  statement  is,  I  believe,  the  source  of  all  the  statements  in 
the  books  that  the  Natchez,  on  their  flight  into  Louisiana,  built 
mounds. 

C.  The  Mizndan  Language,  p.  78.  Lewis  and  Clark  spent 
a  winter  with  the  Mandans,  and  Capt.  Lewis'  official  report  to 
the  president  says  they  speak  "  a  primitive  language,  with  some 
words  resembling  the  Osages'."  Prince  Maximilian,  of  Wied, 
who  spent  some  months  among  the  Mandans,  in  1833,  savs  they 
speak  a  distinct  language,  differing  radically  from  the  Rickarees 
and  Minnetarees. 


ERRATA. 


Page  17, 
Page  26, 
Page  40, 
Page  42, 
Page  46, 
Page  46, 
Page  54, 
Page  63, 
Page  64, 
Page  65, 
Page  70, 
Page  71, 


ast  line,  for  "  guessers,"  read  "  guesses." 
ne  21,  for  "a  Hindoo,"  read  "the  smallest  Hindoo." 
ne  6,  for  "periods,"  read  "period." 
ne  11,  for  "  Pierce,"  read  "  Peirce." 
ne  22,  for  "  man  is,"  read  "  is  man." 
ne  29,  for  "  he,"  read  "  the." 
ne  26,  for  "Barrand,"  read  "  Barrandt." 
ne  3,  after  the  word  "  years,"  insert  the  word  "  old." 
ast  line,  after  the  word  "Norwood,"  insert  "Reading." 
ne  21,  for  "  country,"  read  "county." 
ne  3,  for  "  autocthoneous,"  read  "autochthonous  " 
ne  17,  for  "  Sankies,"  read  "Saukies." 


JUL  26  1^4jAY  use 

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